Gaining Meaning

This may not be a year to observe Lent -- if you can help it. Lent is about self-denial, about giving things up. Many Americans, indeed, many worldwide, are being forced to observe this Lenten practice. {continue...}

[via Ponders on a Faith Journey]

Five Reasons Not To Give Up Something for Lent

[via ThinkChristian.NET]

About My Ambivalence

So we are one week into Lent. I posted on Ash Wednesday about my ambivalence regarding how to observe the season this year. At this point in my life, I feel the need to build up faith instead of eliminate random habits in the name of discipline. But I really didn’t know how to do that. I finally decided to spend the season simply being more aware.

Now of course being aware could just be a euphemism for doing nothing - and it just well might be. It’s easy sometimes to open our eyes to the world around us and then fail to act upon what we see. That’s me most of the time these days. But when I’m at the point that my main goal some days is just to make it to the end of the day without having gone utterly insane from being trapped inside the house with screaming children - to open my eyes and get past my self-absorption seems like a good place to start.

So being aware…{continue...}

[via one hand clapping]

the difference between “i suck” and a truly humble heart

[via the carnival in my head, HT: Faith Dance]

You Might Not Be Repentant If...

You might not be repentant if...

You gave up your virginity for Lent....

You might not be repentant if...

You think "fasting" means going over the speed limit. {full post}

[via J-TWO-O]

To Be Born Human Is To Be Born Waiting

All of our days are spent in the “long Saturday” between promise and fulfillment. We live with one foot in the door of the world as we believe it ought to be and will one day be, but we are much more familiar with the world as it is, with its ambiguous mixture of joy and suffering, its waste and decay, its harshness and beauty, and its constant reminders that we will only be its inhabitants for a handful of decades if we’re lucky. All of our days are waiting days - to be born human is to be born waiting. The only thing in our power is to decide how we will wait.

[via Rumblings]

Lent to Justice

Sure I joked with my friends about giving up homework for Lent and even flirted with giving up chocolate a few times (how significant is denial if it doesn’t lead to spiritual reflection?), but Lent remained an odd tradition I played at and not a habit I embraced. I respected the idea of discipline, but balked at the legalism of giving up something just because that is what people do during Lent. Perhaps hearing my friends complain about how desperate they were for a cola and not hearing anything about how they had been affected spiritually fed my confusion. Lent just didn’t make sense, at least not in the popular ways I saw it conveyed and practiced.

Then I discovered the connection between Lent and justice.

[via Next-Wave Ezine, HT: onehandclapping]

Good For The Environment

You may have heard that religion and science are at war. There are those who say that science has made religion obsolete. There are others, on the other side, of the spectrum, who say that Charles Darwin, and scientists like him, is the devil incarnate. You have to choose. And there’s my problem, I don’t want to choose. In fact, I’ve come to believe that my faith can live in peace with science, including evolutionary science.

Because Evolution Sunday falls this year on the First Sunday of Lent, I thought maybe this year we could combine the two observances. Evolution Sunday challenges us to learn from the witness of science. Yes, it challenges some of our cherished ideas, but the end result is a stronger faith. As they say, Darwin is here to stay, so how are we going to deal with him? Lent, on the other hand, calls us to a time of fasting, prayer, reflection, and sacrifice. Maybe this year, instead of giving up chocolate or Doritos, we could do something more constructive. Perhaps we could take some time and change some light bulbs, turn off some appliances, drive a smaller car, and do something good for the environment.

[via Words of Welcome, HT: Ponderings on a Faith Journey]

Lent and Depression

[via I Trust When Dark My Road]

Lenten Thoughts and Practices

[via Shawna R. B. Atteberry]

Pancake flap upstages Super Tuesday

[via Wittenburg Blog]