Lent is Coming!!!
Ok, so I am hardly excited about this. Lent isn’t about having fun. If you take it seriously, it is about examining your self honestly, holding up the mirror of the law and seeing the ways in which you fall short. Not exactly a good time.
So I have been thinking about what to do this year. My wife is reading the Church Fathers plan that the Jonathon produced, which I like quite a bit. I even made it available to some of my parishioners. But as I have pondered what the next 40 days will hold, I really feel this call to enter more intentionally into the Rule of St. Benedict. I’ve read it, I know it, I even wear a Benedictine cross a lot of the time. Yet I don’t feel as if I have really GOTTEN it. I know it on an intellectual level, but want to know it in a more substantial way. I want to read it while being open to the ways it might challenge me.
With that said, this Lent I will be reading St. Benedict’s Rule, about 2 chapters a day. I hope to be able to spend some time on the blog reflecting on some of this.
Thanks to *Christopher for the inspiration to undertake this discipline. Check out his new webring.
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I just read a message board post that said “Lent is all about celebration, the joyful anticipation of Jesus’s coming.” It went on to announce that instead of sugar, the author plans to give up instant messaging.
Yah. Nice. Anyway, good for you!
Please tell me it read thereafter, “Wait, that’s Advent..”
In Godly Play (a Montessori based formation program developed by Jerome Berryman, an Episcopas priest), we talk about Lent as a time to get ready for the Mysteries of Easter. Purple seasons are about “getting ready.” I think there is a big move afoot to make Lent more “cheerful” in a secular sense. Yuck. There is a joy in Lent, but it’s not the kind that Barney and the funny pages might get. It needn’ be the pointless, self flagellating type seemingly advocated in many places. I’m actually thinking that giving up UM-ing for Lent seems like an excellent discipline if it is something that takes a significant amount of time in the IM-er’s life, and if giving it up gives significant time for other pursuits that will halp in preparation for the Mysteries of Easter.
Anyway, Lenten blessings. Don’t worry about doing it “right.” Taking on a more Benedictine attitude in wherever it fits best sounds like an excellent Lenten discipline!
I’m reading Jonathan’s plan too. I look forward to hearing more about your Saint Benedict rule reflections.
Good stuff there… I’d also recommend the one at Mars Hill’s web site - http://www.mhbcmi.org