How should you decide what you are going to give up\u2014or take up\u2014for Lent this year?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s my plan: I\u2019m going to wake up an hour earlier than usual, depriving myself of sleep and devoting that hour to prayer; read meditatively through the whole New Testament, paying particular attention to living the Sermon on the Mount; fast from sweets and chips, as usual, as well as from meat and Pinot Noir; write letters of encouragement to friends, family, and all my far-flung enemies; and call P. twice a week, whom I assiduously avoid during ordinary time, as penance. And do all of this before 7:00 a.m. each day. (Sorry P.\u2014that\u2019s your<\/em> penance.)<\/p>\n As kids would say when I was young: NOT!<\/em><\/p>\n St. Thomas Aquinas, the 13th <\/sup>century theologian, prayed, \u201cPut my life in good order, O my God.\u201d But we are prone to view Lent as the season during which we<\/em> put our lives in good order for<\/em> God. It\u2019s like Jan. 1 all over again: we pile on the discipline, the resolutions, and the good intentions so that by Easter we\u2019ll be the saints we want to be\u2014and recognized for it.<\/p>\n We have forgotten, if we ever knew, the deep truth of life with God, stated succinctly by Ruth Burrows, an English Carmelite sister in her 90s: \u201cPrayer is not our <\/em>activity, our <\/em>getting in touch with God, our <\/em>coming to grips with or making ourselves desirable to God. We can do none of these things, nor do we need to, for God is there ready to do everything for us, loving us unconditionally.\u201d<\/p>\n God is there ready to do everything for us, loving us unconditionally.<\/p>\n In other words: Don\u2019t be a hero.<\/strong><\/p>\n We are not the first to be tempted to spiritual heroics. In the rule he wrote for monks, the 6th<\/sup> century St. Benedict cautioned moderation in all things, including Lenten discipline. He required each monk to inform the abbot of his plan to observe Lent as a way to avoid pride, the assumption being that the abbot might say, \u201cThat\u2019s a little much; back off.\u201d Of course, what seemed moderate in a 6th<\/sup> century monastery might feel extreme to us, but the principle of moderation remains the same regardless of the century.<\/p>\n If Burrows is right that it\u2019s not our job to find God or make ourselves acceptable to God, because God is already here, working and loving in us, then maybe in Lent we should aim for something more modest: to make a little space to become aware of that divine presence, available to it. The following guidelines might help with that endeavor:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Take whatever you were imagining you might do in Lent and reduce it by 50 percent. Why set yourself up for failure? You were going to read 10 psalms a day? Make it five. You were going to spend 30 minutes in silent prayer each evening? Make it 15. You were going to call your most aggravating friend twice a week? Make it once. Better to do something that makes a little space than try to make a lot, only to throw in the towel by the second Sunday of Lent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Don\u2019t give up chocolate because everyone else is doing it. Ask yourself: Where have I<\/em> been longing for freedom in my life? What way of prayer has been calling my name? Have you wanted to spend time in silence, meditating on Scripture, but haven\u2019t found the time? Lent might be a chance to begin. You\u2019re more likely to keep at something that comes out of your own God-inspired longing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n St. Benedict was right\u2014we\u2019re more likely to overachieve if we keep our discipline a secret. Why not run it by a trusted friend or spiritual mentor\u2014someone who knows you, your ambitions, and your blind spots? There\u2019s a chance that when you say it out loud and see the look on your friend\u2019s face, the truth might hit you: I\u2019m trying to be a hero, aren\u2019t I?<\/em><\/p>\n Lent is not a free 40-day membership to a spiritual gym. It\u2019s an invitation to make space that opens us to God\u2019s forgiving, healing, loving presence. There\u2019s no trophy at the end, no parade of champions. No need to be a hero.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Rev. Dr. L. Roger Owens is associate professor of Christian spirituality and ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and teaches courses in the MDiv<\/a>, Doctor of Ministry<\/a>, and Continuing Education<\/a> programs. Before coming to PTS he served urban and rural churches for eight years in North Carolina as co-pastor with his wife, Ginger. He has written multiple books including <\/em>The Shape of Participation: A Theology of Church Practices which was called \u201cthis decades best work in ecclesiology\u201d by <\/em>The Christian Century.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How should you decide what you are going to give up\u2014or take up\u2014for Lent this year? Here\u2019s my plan: I\u2019m going to wake up an hour earlier than usual, depriving myself of sleep and devoting that hour to prayer; read meditatively through the whole New Testament, paying particular attention to living the Sermon on the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[270,82,329,330],"series":[],"class_list":["post-2509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-protestant-spirituality","tag-christian-spirituality","tag-lent","tag-lenten-practices","tag-lenten-spiritual-practices"],"yoast_head":"\r\nCut it in Half<\/h2>\n
Follow your Longing<\/h2>\n
Tell Someone<\/h2>\n