Lent

So, I've never given up anything for Lent before, I didn't grow up with the tradition and never went to a church that practiced it as a body.  This year is different though.  I first started thinking about it when I heard about Blood:Water Mission's 40 Days of Water 'challenge' through Twitter.  Blood:Water Mission is a grassroots organization that empowers communities in Africa to work together against the HIV/AIDS and water crisis.  Basically, the challenge is, for 40 days you only drink water (in addition to food), then donate the money you would have spent on lattes, pop, smoothies or drinks out with the girls to blood:water mission.

Then, I read two articles about Lent.  One by Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor and another, a blog, by Glenn Packiam.  Taylor focuses on where Jesus was while he was tempted, in the wilderness, and encourages each of us to spend some time in a place that isn't as cushy as we're used to (my words), because really, very few of us are really going to go through a true wildness experience like Jesus did.


A few quotes from Taylor:

In a culture of plenty I am impressed with anyone who decides to make it without anesthesia for a while--to give up whatever appliances or habits or substances they use to keep themselves from feeling what it really feels like to live the kind of lives they are living. 

I mean, almost everyone uses something--if not anesthesia, then at least a favorite pacifier: murder mysteries, Facebook, reruns of Boston Legal, Pottery Barn catalogs, Bombay Sapphire gin martinis.  I'm not saying those are awful things.  I'm just saying they are distractions--things to reach for when a person is too tired, too sad, or too afraid to enter the wilderness of the present moment--to wonder what it's really about or who else is in it or maybe just to make a little bed in the sand.  
.
.
.
But if you remember to breathe--and say your prayers--then nine times out of ten you can make it through your first night with no extra bread, power, or protection.  You can get used to the sound of your own heart beating and whatever it is that is yipping out there.  You may even be able to sleep a little while and wake up gladder to be alive than you can ever remember being.  So there are thirty-nine days to go.  So don't count.  Take it one day at a time.
.
.

Are you hungry? 
I am famished. 

Well, what's wrong with that?  Are you dying?
No.

Can you stand being hungry for a while longer?
Maybe.  I guess so.

Okay, so what else?  Are you lonely?
Yes, I am!  I am terribly lonely!

What's wrong with being alone?  Will it kill you?
I don't like it.

That's not what I asked.  Can you live through it?
Probably not, but I'll try.

Glenn Packiam, a pastor at my home church, doesn't normally observe Lent, but is this year.  In Glenn's blog he looks at the history and the purpose of Lent, very informative for one who doesn't know much about it (me).  He also looks at the modern church calendar and compares it to the historic church calendar.  Here's what he has to say about it:

 I realized that the Modern Church Calendar centers on what we are doing and invites God in while the Historic Church Calendar centers on what Christ has done and invites us to participate in His life, suffering, death, resurrection, and commission. One is about my activity, the other is about Christ's; one is about the busyness of my pre-determined rhythms, the other is about interrupting my rhythms to bring my life into the cadence of Christ and His work.

.

.

 Ironically, the Historic Church Calendar might do more to help us follow the leading of the Holy Spirit than the haphazard, self-focused, human-activity-driven events and programs that clutter the life of many non-denominational churches.

Interesting thoughts.

So this 'Lenten' season I'm taking the 40 Day's of Water Challenge, I'll also be following @bloodwater on Twitter for encouragement and stories from others doing the same challenge.  Today I saw this:  

Hey @bloodwater, My wife and I are doing your stupid 40 days of water. Sorry, caffeine withdrawal, I'll be better in a couple of days.

oh, and this:

After giving a #40Days presentation to a group of students today, one girl immediately got a coke from the machine. Ouch.

Haha!  ouch is right!

I know it's not comparable to a true wilderness, but if nothing else, maybe it will help people in Africa get help for AIDs and clean water and ultimately direct my attention to Jesus.