Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Recap 2.22.09

Well, the recap is late.  Can you believe it?  Yeah, me too.

      At our little gathering, we foraged through a thoughtful discussion of the Lenten Season (not to be confused those little soup beans). 

     Tara kicked it off with an inspiring inaugural post, after which there was a ball that I was apparently not invited to.  We discussed some of the traditional forms of celebrating Lent, which of course included the 'giving up' of anything that could be put in the 'fun' category.  You know meat, red meat, swearing, alcohol, hitting people, beanie babies....sailor's activities basically. 
     Digging a little deeper, we found that this may not be a time to simply try and shed bad habits, or even start good ones.  This time is about Christ's sacrfice, and us connecting to that sacrifice through one of our own.  Naturally, one person's sacrifice will look quite different than another's.  In fact, some may not look sacrificial at all.  It may be setting aside specific time for discipline, practicing a discipline that would cause us to reflect, refraining from activities that hinder spiritual progress (such as excessive time on Facebook, blogging, etc.)  **I think a new thread should be started to discuss further the narcissistic discussion we were having regarding these online activities as there is much more depth here that won't make it into this recap, but that I think was going somewhere good** 
     Our specific lives are far too different to go through these motions in the same manner, lest it become more about the motions themselves.  So, we discussed what these motions were going to be personally for each one of us.  We touched on the subject of not publicizing our mournful efforts, for a variety of reasons.  To contrast this, however, there seemed to be an element of community that would be severely missed if we do not share our efforts with one another in this time. 
     So, I won't oust anybody - but I'll start with mine.  I'm going to try and not become full for 40 days.  I guess it's a fast in a very sissy sort of way.  The idea here has to do with respecting those who are hungry, recognizing Jesus' hunger through this time, and not stuffing myself silly just because it's available.  So, I would love to hear from anybody/everybody willing to share on this fatty of a Tuesday. 

2 comments:

Tom F said...

What I learned about Lent and the discrepancy about the 40 or 46/7 days before Easter is that, some consider Sundays a freebie day so it doesn't count.
Found this here http://www.upperroom.org/methodx/thelife/articles/lent101.asp
its kind of a FAQ

Sarah said...

found a great article about Lent from the Burnside Writer's collective - you can read it at

http://www.burnsidewriterscollective.com/general/2009/02/i_am_giving_up_chocolate.php.

It sounded like her conclusions were similar to what a few were thinking on Sunday...