Lent 2021 - What are you doing?

Hello Christians of RF

The season of Lent starts on Ash Wednesday which falls on 17 February this year.

This is my first Lent as a newbie Christian, and I'd love to hear about what others plan to do over the 40 days, and why.

The obvious one everyone seems to know is giving up something - red meat, chocolate and alcohol seem particular favourites. Could you go 40 days fasting from social media, perhaps? And why do Christians give something up? I think it's to experience a little bit of suffering as we journey with Christ for 40 days up to the cross? Is the pinch of going without meant to remind us to draw closer to God?

What else do you do? Do you have a Bible reading plan? Do you meditate upon a certain theme each week? Do you do nothing until the Easter Weekend, perhaps?

Please share and we might encourage each other during Lent in another strange year.

Thanks

Treks said:

Hello Christians of RF

The season of Lent starts on Ash Wednesday which falls on 17 February this year.

This is my first Lent as a newbie Christian, and I'd love to hear about what others plan to do over the 40 days, and why.

The obvious one everyone seems to know is giving up something - red meat, chocolate and alcohol seem particular favourites. Could you go 40 days fasting from social media, perhaps? And why do Christians give something up? I think it's to experience a little bit of suffering as we journey with Christ for 40 days up to the cross? Is the pinch of going without meant to remind us to draw closer to God?

What else do you do? Do you have a Bible reading plan? Do you meditate upon a certain theme each week? Do you do nothing until the Easter Weekend, perhaps?

Please share and we might encourage each other during Lent in another strange year.

Thanks

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My response is more of a “why not” actually....

To be honest, I always wondered what Lent had to do with Jesus’ death. There was no fasting period when Jesus died....but there was a 40 day fast after his baptism, three and a half years before. I don’t really understand how these got connected....?

Jesus never commanded his disciples to commemorate his fast, nor is there any evidence that they did so. The first reliable mention of the 40-day fast before Easter is thought to be in letters of Athanasius, dated 330 C.E. There is no “Easter” ever mentioned in the Bible. This word is actually the name of an ancient pagan fertility goddess, whose symbols were rabbits and eggs, (in case anyone ever wondered what chocolate, rabbits and eggs have to do with the death of Jesus Christ.)

Since Jesus fasted following his baptism and not before his death, the fact that some religions observe Lent in the weeks preceding Easter seems somewhat strange. However, a 40-day fast in the early part of the year was common among ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, and Greeks. (Those who did not worship the God of Jesus Christ) This “Christian” custom was evidently borrowed from them. Is that a problem in view of what Paul says at 2 Corinthians 6:14-18?

Treks said:

Hello Christians of RF

The season of Lent starts on Ash Wednesday which falls on 17 February this year.

This is my first Lent as a newbie Christian, and I'd love to hear about what others plan to do over the 40 days, and why.

The obvious one everyone seems to know is giving up something - red meat, chocolate and alcohol seem particular favourites. Could you go 40 days fasting from social media, perhaps? And why do Christians give something up? I think it's to experience a little bit of suffering as we journey with Christ for 40 days up to the cross? Is the pinch of going without meant to remind us to draw closer to God?

What else do you do? Do you have a Bible reading plan? Do you meditate upon a certain theme each week? Do you do nothing until the Easter Weekend, perhaps?

Please share and we might encourage each other during Lent in another strange year.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Hi Treks,

I don't do Lent for the reasons mentioned by Deeje, but even if I did, we've already been deprived of almost everything that makes us happy as humans. I don't know what's going on where you live, but in France we're heading to near one year of restrictions and confinements. We can't travel, can't go to a restaurant, have to be home by 6pm or justify why we're out, museums, gyms, theaters and any other cultural places are closed. Socializing in not allowed or frowned upon, and you have to wear a mask all the time. That's a lot of deprivation so I wouldn't be surprised if people just decided they've sacrificed enough.

Treks said:

Hello Christians of RF

The season of Lent starts on Ash Wednesday which falls on 17 February this year.

This is my first Lent as a newbie Christian, and I'd love to hear about what others plan to do over the 40 days, and why.

The obvious one everyone seems to know is giving up something - red meat, chocolate and alcohol seem particular favourites. Could you go 40 days fasting from social media, perhaps? And why do Christians give something up? I think it's to experience a little bit of suffering as we journey with Christ for 40 days up to the cross? Is the pinch of going without meant to remind us to draw closer to God?

What else do you do? Do you have a Bible reading plan? Do you meditate upon a certain theme each week? Do you do nothing until the Easter Weekend, perhaps?

Please share and we might encourage each other during Lent in another strange year.

Thanks

Click to expand...

To be honest, Treks, I don't do Lent. Although Lent will still have benefits for those who use it to draw themselves closer to God, I don't think it should be relegated to just the 40 days.

Giving up things and even fasting is something we do on a continual basis and not on a specific timeframe. We read the Bible continuously, meditate always, make the flesh suffer by stopping the fleshly response to earthly problems and always try to draw closer to God because then He draws closer to us.

I try to read through the Bible continuously (I don't know how many times I've done it).

But, SOOOO happy for you that you have begun your spiritual journey with Jesus Christ as Lord!

Treks said:

Hello Christians of RF

The season of Lent starts on Ash Wednesday which falls on 17 February this year.

This is my first Lent as a newbie Christian, and I'd love to hear about what others plan to do over the 40 days, and why.

The obvious one everyone seems to know is giving up something - red meat, chocolate and alcohol seem particular favourites. Could you go 40 days fasting from social media, perhaps? And why do Christians give something up? I think it's to experience a little bit of suffering as we journey with Christ for 40 days up to the cross? Is the pinch of going without meant to remind us to draw closer to God?

What else do you do? Do you have a Bible reading plan? Do you meditate upon a certain theme each week? Do you do nothing until the Easter Weekend, perhaps?

Please share and we might encourage each other during Lent in another strange year.

Thanks

Click to expand...

I used to give up alcohol for Lent: it was good for me and also a small way of exerting willpower over temptation, as it were, which I think is the idea. But since, a few years ago, I had some episodes of atrial fibrillation I was advised to halve my alcohol consumption, which I have done and kept to ever since. So to be honest I feel it is a bit like Lent all the time now and consequently I don't mark Lent in any special way, apart from musically. At mass in Lent we sing - or sang, before Covid lockdown put a stop to it - Gregorian Mass XVII, (without a Gloria). Here is the Agnus Dei:


We also sing the rather beautiful, thousand year old Gregorian hymn for Lent, "Attende Domine":


My late wife was very fond of this hymn. I am having the last phrase: "quos redemisti, tu conserva, Christe" inscribed on her tombstone.

Lent has deeper meaning than giving up something you like. Its a time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
During Lent, we are asked to devote ourselves to seeking the Lord in prayer and reading Scripture, to service by giving alms, and to practice self-control through fasting.
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence.
If possible, the fast on Good Friday is continued until the Easter Vigil (on Holy Saturday night) as the "paschal fast" to honor the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus and to prepare ourselves to share more fully and to celebrate more readily his Resurrection.
Lent begins with the distribution of ashes on Wed. and fasting thru to the Vigil on Holy Saturday night.