Lent

If you grew up in the church or have at least been around for a while, you may have heard the great debate as to which practices are biblical and which are tradition. This conversation is common in churches who seek to be as much like the apostolic church (the church immediately following the resurrection/the church in the time of Paul). This particular mode of thinking--trying to get back to the "pure" Christianity--has many benefits. However, it overlooks traditions that have developed over the last 2000 years that do have benefits.

Lent, in my opinion, is one of these traditions. If you don't know much about Lent and its origins, the Wikipedia article is a good summary. So, I won't go into those details here. But here is what I do like about Lent. Lent offers a season of redirection--a time of focused prayer and fasting. It reminds us of the suffering of Christ, the suffering of others in the world, and our own suffering, which, when viewed properly, gives rememberance of the how joyous and wonderful the resurrection truly is.

Lent is a time when you can join Christians around the world in saying that you love God so much that you are willing to take "Man does not live on bread alone" literally. If you think about it, that is a very difficult thing to do. For someone like me, fasting makes sense because of how much I like food (it's one of my love languages). In years past, I have given up refined sugar or meat. Even doing something as small as that is difficult, which helps make the season meaningful. You are depriving yourself of something you don't need but really like to remember everything that Jesus gave up.

I don't know how old I was, but I remember one time when the leaders of my church did a full fast during the time of Lent (I don't know if they just had water or if they had could have any type of liquid). Even as a kid I remember thinking how hard that must be. I've never fasted more than a few days at a time, certainly no where even close to 40 days. But I've also never tried. If Jesus could do it while being in the desert, then surely I can in the comfort of my home. I won't be trying this year, but it is something I feel I need to do at some point.