{"id":143,"date":"2008-02-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-10T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/fearofwhales\/2008\/02\/lent.html"},"modified":"2011-04-23T21:24:29","modified_gmt":"2011-04-24T01:24:29","slug":"lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2008\/02\/lent.html","title":{"rendered":"Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
\nSo Ash Wednesday was this last Wednesday\u2026 that can only mean one thing! It\u2019s Lent.
\nHappy Lent Everyone!!!
\n\u2026Can I say that?
\n\u2026Sad lent?….Contemplative lent?
\nI really don\u2019t know. Either way it\u2019s lent, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to talk about.
\nFor those of you who don\u2019t know lent is the period of 40 days (excluding Sundays) that lead up to Easter. It is a typically somber period of preparation for the celebration of Christ\u2019s resurrection.
\nLent is most famous as the time in the church calendar when people give something up for 40 days.
\nThe Lenten Fast.
\nIt\u2019s always a little strange for me when this time of the year comes around. Because as I see it, it\u2019s simultaneously one of the coolest practices of liturgical Christianity, and one of the gimpiest trends in the Christian subculture.
\nThe idea that there is a day that is set aside from the other days of the year as a day to celebrate the risen Christ, and that there should be a time of preparation of our hearts for it. It\u2019s just an incredible idea. The realist mysticism of it, it\u2019s the kind of thing that really gets me going.
\nSo much in the Christian life is \u201cspiritual\u201d that we tend to get lost in the theories of theory.
\nChristianity becomes something theoretical, something happening out in the white spaces somewhere.
\nBut it\u2019s not supposed to be.
\nNOTW (NotOfThisWorld) gets plastered on the backs of born again trucks. And I shake my head as I go past on my bicycle (which as far as I know is still an agnostic) thinking.. what about the part where the bible says we are \u201cstill in this world though not of it\u201d
\nOf course the other extreme is to ignore the mystery all together. Make Christianity a religion entirely about the here and now. The stuff we can touch and feel.
\nThat\u2019s not satisfying either.
\nBut lent\u2026 lent is so earthly and visceral. You can feel it and live it. and yet it\u2019s so transcendent.
\nIt exists in the wood between the worlds
\nAs if that weren\u2019t enough it\u2019s just a solid idea, to begin with. Fasting from something makes you appreciate it more. Fasting on a regular basis helps to make sure you do it, having a definite ending time helps make sure you don\u2019t go overboard.
\nAnd if you are going to fast, 40 days is a good amount of time to do it. 40s are used in the bible a lot for time periods during which changes take place. In that time it\u2019s more than likely that if what you gave up for lent was something compulsive or addictive, you\u2019ll have beaten the habit by Easter
\nSo it\u2019s really an all around great idea. I wish I had thought of it.
\nStill\u2026Leave it to us to find a way to make self denial into something egoistic.
\nJesus said when we fast we should clean our face and oil our hair so nobody knows what we\u2019re doing. Instead we like to start out, literally, by rubbing ashes on our faces.
\nThen we spend the next week talking to all our friends asking \u201cwhat did you give up for lent\u201d
\nThen everybody at the table throws theirs down and we see which fast wins.
\nWhoever is giving up the nicest thing is the holiest.
\nI\u2019m trying to think of a tradition that could make people less prepared for Easter.
\nIt\u2019s okay though. After 4 years at a liturgical school I have the answer. When someone asks you \u201cSo what are you giving up for lent\u201d you tell them \u201cFasting\u201d
\n\u201cWhaddya mean Gaffney? I don\u2019t get it\u201d
\n\u201cWell I just feel like fasting has really become kind of thoughtless in my life and I need to give it up for 40 days, then after Easter I\u2019ll consider fasting again\u201d
\nI guarantee you it will shut up even the most pietistic of pietistic Christians wanting to compare their holiness to yours\u2026 what can you say to that?
\n\u201cOh\u2026Because I\u2019m giving up chocolate\u2026\u201d
\nWell good for you,
\nTo all you out there.. if you are going to fast for lent\u2026 Don\u2019t tell me about it… for your sake,.. really.
\nOtherwise don\u2019t bother fasting. You already missed the point. You might as well have your chocolate too.
\nPhilemon 1:23<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So Ash Wednesday was this last Wednesday\u2026 that can only mean one thing! It\u2019s Lent. Happy Lent Everyone!!! \u2026Can I say that? \u2026Sad lent?….Contemplative lent? I really don\u2019t know. Either way it\u2019s lent, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to talk about. For those of you who don\u2019t know lent is the period of 40 days…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,10,42,54],"tags":[134,102,135,133,136],"class_list":["post-143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-culture","category-inspiration-2","category-students","category-theology","tag-fasting","tag-funny","tag-hypocrisy","tag-lent","tag-sarcasm"],"yoast_head":"\nLent - A Fear of Whales<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2008\/02\/lent.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lent - A Fear of Whales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So Ash Wednesday was this last Wednesday\u2026 that can only mean one thing! It\u2019s Lent. Happy Lent Everyone!!! \u2026Can I say that? \u2026Sad lent?….Contemplative lent? I really don\u2019t know. Either way it\u2019s lent, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to talk about. For those of you who don\u2019t know lent is the period of 40 days…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2008\/02\/lent.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Fear of Whales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-02-10T05:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-04-24T01:24:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/fearofwhales.typepad.com\/.a\/6a014e87f1cb84970d01538dfeac54970b-pi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rgaffney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lent - A Fear of Whales","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2008\/02\/lent.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lent - A Fear of Whales","og_description":"So Ash Wednesday was this last Wednesday\u2026 that can only mean one thing! It\u2019s Lent. Happy Lent Everyone!!! \u2026Can I say that? \u2026Sad lent?….Contemplative lent? I really don\u2019t know. Either way it\u2019s lent, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to talk about. For those of you who don\u2019t know lent is the period of 40 days…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2008\/02\/lent.html","og_site_name":"A Fear of Whales","article_published_time":"2008-02-10T05:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-04-24T01:24:29+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/fearofwhales.typepad.com\/.a\/6a014e87f1cb84970d01538dfeac54970b-pi"}],"author":"rgaffney","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2008\/02\/lent.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2008\/02\/lent.html","name":"Lent - A Fear of Whales","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2008\/02\/lent.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2008\/02\/lent.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/fearofwhales.typepad.com\/.a\/6a014e87f1cb84970d01538dfeac54970b-pi","datePublished":"2008-02-10T05:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2011-04-24T01:24:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/#\/schema\/person\/d1517242690f3eb7970adfa3b8e1a567"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2008\/02\/lent.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2008\/02\/lent.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2008\/02\/lent.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/fearofwhales.typepad.com\/.a\/6a014e87f1cb84970d01538dfeac54970b-pi","contentUrl":"http:\/\/fearofwhales.typepad.com\/.a\/6a014e87f1cb84970d01538dfeac54970b-pi"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2008\/02\/lent.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lent"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/","name":"A Fear of Whales","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Ryan Gaffney","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/#\/schema\/person\/d1517242690f3eb7970adfa3b8e1a567","name":"rgaffney","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/author\/rgaffney"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/391"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143\/revisions\/270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}