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Lenten Journey: Day 8

The past three days have been days that the church has traditionally remembered 2 important people in our history. Yesterday was the day that Polycarp of Smyrna was martyred. He was given the choice of denying Christ or being burned at the stake. His reply was “86 years I have served him, and he has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?” So they burned him. Either today by the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, or Monday, according to The Divine Hours, we remember Matthais. Matthais was the follower of Christ who was selected to fill the spot among the 12 vacated by Judas Iscariot.

One of the things these remembrances have done for me during my Lenten journey is to help me remember the generations of faithful spiritual mothers and fathers we have as Christians. Many times the feast day for a “Saint” occurs on the day of his or her martyrdom. This is the case for Polycarp and St. Valentine, both of whose feast days we have recently celebrated.

If you are fasting in some form this Lenten season – and by that I mean setting aside some fleshly desire in order to focus your desire more upon Christ, then you are joining in some way, ranks of faithful who have given up everything for Christ, because he has given up all for us. We are single and unique voices located within a timeless chorus. What a beautiful song it is.

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My Lenten Journey Day 4

I’m about 72 hours into this, and it’s been 2 days since I blogged last on my Lenten journey.  I’m still wrestling with what to share and how to do it.  My goal has been to encourage others to enter into some spiritual disciplines for Lent.  The experience of fasting feels too personal to write too much about, and I am not wanting to draw attention to myself for it.  Instead, I think as I blog through Lent I’ll write about prayer and that sort of thing.  I will say this, there are many ways to go about fasting, whether from food, or tv, or the internet.  The goal is to make space to allow God to shape you. Continue reading “My Lenten Journey Day 4”

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Lenten Journey – day 2

I’ll try and blog briefly each day through Lent, so here we go.

If you missed the Lent Journey ground rules, here they are.

I’ve actually been fasting less than 24 hours, so no big deal. The thing I am aware of right now is how spoiled my stomach is. It’s the grumbling for a snack before bed, that sort of thing. Also, coffee is a habit for me. This morning the thought crossed my mind that I should get a pot of coffee going, then I remembered and grabbed my water. My last meal was pork tenderloin, with mashed potatoes and green beans. It tasted wonderful and I felt strangely sad when it was over. I have an emotional attachment to food. Strange. These next few days will be the toughest, so here we go… Continue reading “Lenten Journey – day 2”

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My Lenten Journey – The Ground Rules

I’ve decided to blog about my Lenten journey this year, so I guess this will be my first post along those lines.

About a month ago, during my prayer time, as I was praying for our church, I felt it laid upon my heart to fast from food for Lent. I’ve fasted many times before (and never really found it enjoyable – but it has been an important discipline). I love eating. Fasting from food is hard. I’ve also fasted from tv, caffeine, done fasts twice a week (an old Methodist tradition) and once a week. This is the first time, however, that I’ve felt called to this. So, I began to pray about it a bit, as well as talk to my wife and friends about it. Then I read some about fasting, what to expect and how to do it. The result of all of that is this plan:

Lent is 40 days + 6 Sundays. The Sundays are all “feast days” because Sunday is the day Christ was raised. This means it has forever been changed (according to the Christian calendar). So I will fast on the fast days and eat on the Sundays. During fasting I will have water and juice because I need to be able to work and parent and such. On the Sundays I will obviously need to really watch what I eat, since my digestive system won’t be able to handle heavy things. The plan is for vegetables, toast, pretzels, and things of that nature on Sundays. I will not be drinking coffee or soda for Lent, nor any milk.

Continue reading “My Lenten Journey – The Ground Rules”