Lent

I was driving to church today when I heard on the radio a woman briefly mention Lent in her message. She said that she was giving up bread during the period of Lent, and each time she reaches for bread she thinks about Jesus. I guess it succeeds in reminding her to keep God on her mind throughout the day, but my scientific mind couldn't help but tick over and wonder about her carbohydrate and fibre intake during these 40 days.

I didn't actually know anything about Lent before I heard this radio message, except once I read in a novel a character pondered whether it was appropriate to enjoy chocolate during Lent. I looked it up once I got home from church - basically it is supposed to emanate the forty days Jesus spent in the desert. Christians thus attempt to put themselves into a sort of "wilderness", where time is spent in reflection, soul-searching, fasting, and prayer. It is supposed to be a time when you rededicate yourself, and, I suppose, clear your life of worldly clutter.

While seated in church, I wondered what I give up during Lent, mainly as an experiment. Perhaps caffeine? No, no way. I thought of a few other things (sugar, chocolate, rice) but finally I came up with the answer - MSN instant messenger. MSN has become part of my daily life - I log on when I switch on my computer (and I switch it on as soon as I get home or more or less when I get up), and I leave it running while I study. There are times when I would come home from bible-study, exhausted but with every intention to do squeeze another hour or so of productive study into the evening, only to spend it procrastinating on MSN. The thing about MSN is that if you leave it running in the background, you check periodically to see who is online and chatting to your friends always seem more interesting than haematopoietic proliferative disorders. If I give up MSN - imagine! My study will be so much more efficient - more time for my family, my friends, and my God!

I was actually quite proud of my idea, which I announced to my mentor while lining up to receive communion. I was expecting some delight and congratulations; I was quite miffed to find that he seemed to think the idea ridiculous.

"Can't you do something practical?" he said, somewhat icily. "Give up chocolate or something. You will be isolated, you'll loose touch with everyone, and everyone will forget about you." With that, he turned his back to me. I didn't pursue the issue further: you weren't supposed to talk when receiving communion and his parents (his father is one of our pastors) were right behind us.

Now that I think about it, I can sort of see his point. It seems like a frivolous gesture, without practical application (he doesn't know how much it interferes with my work I guess) -- self-punishment for the sake of it. He is very much against self-punishment and Christians denying themselves of joy for no good reason. Why give up bread, when it is the staple of the Western diet? How else are you going to get the carbohydrate and fibre - eat cereal at every meal? Jesus may have experienced forty days in the wilderness, but the gospels of Matthew and Luke describes him being lead by the Spirit into the desert. In our lives we often enough go through trials and temptation - there seems little need to walk into it ourselves.

While I do not think that giving up a staple food is necessarily a good idea, the general concept, I find, is commendable - because isn't discipline also one of the Christian values? If I can not resist the temptation to log on to MSN (and see if my mentor is online, and debate with him about this issue), then how will I face the much greater temptations? If I can discipline myself to do the trivial, surely the meaningful will also come easier. Naturally, it would be ideal if I prayed and reflected and meditated without needing to discipline myself to do it. But the fact is that I am flesh, and if I do as I wished, it would most likely not be the right thing.

Of course, the topic has now moved away from Lent, to discipline and self-denial. Lent, we are told, is much more than the giving up of your favourite food. It is a sort of isolation away from the distractions of this world so that you can reflect and look toward God and the joy and peace that comes from looking toward God. That sounds even better - although of course how well it works is another matter. Like the character in the novel, one can easily turn to think of Lent as something to endure rather than enjoy - a time when chocolate seems inappropriate and one is supposed to live in solemn austerity. As much as God delights in us spending personal time with him, I'm sure we are supposed to do it because we like it, not because it's Lent and that's what one is expected to do during Lent.

While I'm not sure how good I will be at praying and reflecting, I will try my best to avoid MSN until Easter (I was quite embarrassed to find, after I looked it up when I got home, that Lent has already started, on the 8th of February). I'm not sure how well it will work - the temptation is very great right now, and perhaps sometime mid-week I'll come up with some excuse to log in. Perhaps, with all the time that I will now save, I can read more bible and reflect more.

Unless, of course, I spend the time blogging, like I am doing now. Sigh.