Lent, Coffee and Demon Slayers
In scripture, the time of Lent is referred to in Luke 4: 1-2, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.”
It probably surprises some of you that the same woman who writes about her sex life (and more recently total lack of one) can quote scripture. What can I say? I could fill a blog post that would put all of you to sleep on the incongruities in my personality.
Catholics are always surprised when they find out that Protestants observe Ash Wednesday- as though Catholics alone own the path toward the resurrection. As an adult, I’ve observed the Lenten season for 12 years and during this time, I give up coffee. The practice of giving up foodstuff for lent is based in the text above, of Jesus starving himself for 40 days. I choose coffee because it is such a part of my life, the impetus for this blog and it does in fact keep me mindful of the sacrifice of the Crucifixion. Not having coffee is painful for me. I don’t think I’ve ever actually blogged about how much I love coffee, it’s flavor and traditions, but coffee is as big a part of my life as having brown hair, green eyes, a big ass. During Lent, when I make and then drink tea, it is a reminder to me of that greater sacrifice, the “paid in full” that Jesus makes for us all when he dies on the cross.
A Catholic friend of mine suggested that for him, Lent is more about facing your demons head on and dealing with them the way that Jesus faced the devil during those 40 days. As that as a noble practice too, there are a few demons I’ll be dancing with, privately, over the next now 37 days.
If you are looking for some ways to observe the Lenten season, the joy of Palm Sunday, horror of the Crucifixion and the renewing miracle of the Resurrection here are some ideas:
- Spend time in meditation each day
- Read a book for spiritual growth
- Read twice through one of the Gospels
- Keep a prayer journal
- Focus on Thanksgiving, rather than asking in prayer
- Give yourself the gift of three hours to do something you always say you don’t have time to do
- Make a list of people with whom you need to reconcile and pray for them
- Take a one hour inventory of your priorities
- Give up a grudge or a rehearsal of a past event
- Take on a loving task
- Visit a “shut in”
- Writer a letter of affirmation once a week to a person who has touched your life
- Begin to recycle waste from your home and workplace
- Give blood and recall the cross
- Say “No” to something that is a waste of time and money
May you find peace in your walk to the cross.
Since I follow an existential view of all life, I can’t say that I’ll be carrying anyone’s cross anytime soon metaphorically or otherwise.What I can say is that the suggestions you have outlined are great ways to live and be mindful of the world on any given day, week, month – no matter the time of year.
(sans the recycling thing. As you know, my goal is to leave the “largest carbon footprint” I can in this lifetime – LOL )
A well-considered and giving essay… Here’s an odd one for you… During Lent (which I personally do not observe in tradition, any more than I make a New Year’s resolution), I use the 40 days to get myself closer to God, closer to Christ, closer to the power that is nice enough to let me question it at every turn. One of the vehicles I use is the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. If you give it a serious listen, you’ll find that while it clearly starts out as an attempt at mockery, you cannot miss the overriding sense that as Rice and Webber researched and wrote, they learned things. And toward the end, a distinct reverence appears in the tone of the work. For some strange reason, nothing opens my heart to the suffering of Christ more than the second half of this show. I cannot listen to it without crying.