I struggle with Facebook sometimes. I was quite 'late to the party' and have tried to limit just who I interact with there. It can be quite a negative force - take last week: In one of my groups, someone posted "What are people doing for Lent this year?" I believe it was a genuine question - they wanted some fresh ideas to inspire them through the season.
Perhaps a little more creative than "I always give up chocolate". Initially there were two sorts of response. The first was "I do this..." and maybe a link to a useful website. The second was "I'm sick of all this virtue signalling" - [that's the pejorative term posh phrase for the conspicuous expression of moral values and noble activity]
Now I understand that the response was probably linked to Jesus words in Matthew 6:5, about not praying out loud on street corners, in the hopes that Joe Public will recognise how saintly you are. But as the original post was simply a question and not written in the form "I am doing this, what are you doing?" I thought maybe there was an over-reaction.
Lent activities are not about "I'm doing this because I am a better person than you" but rather "I'm doing this believing it will make me a better person than I was before" and/or "because this will make my relationship with God better"
So please don't beat yourself up if you are not spending Lent doing things like -
eating vegetarian, learning a bible verse every day, filling a box with food for the hungry or coats for the homeless, writing notes of encouragement for people, or just giving up alcohol and chocolate. All these activities have value - but the real benefit of Lent is that it gives a person time to reflect on their lifestyle, and consider what changes would be good and right for them. For 40 days - or maybe for ever after.
I admire my friends who are diligently doing the actions listed above, and am confident they [and others] will be blessed. Personally, I have found that listening to others sharing [usually in a quite humble, genuine way] what they themselves are doing is inspiring.
I am not doing a specific Lent Project after all - the Green Living Project [begun in January] is enough of a challenge, and so I am continuing with that, and attempting to reduce my 'carbon footprint'.
Thank you for this post, Angela. I don't observe Lent, but, I like the idea of it being a time to reflect on my life style and consider what changes I could make to improve it. I welcome this opportunity to do so.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bless- I hope you find words of help and inspiration in this series.
DeleteThank you for extremely wise words. Jesus loved us, and still does. If we can find more of him and understand better his love, before Easter and its celebration of the extent of that love, we will have been blessed this Lent. (What is the C4 French thing you're snoozing with?)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your sensible approach. I always have great plans for Lent...but the flesh is week.
ReplyDeleteThe only time I can remember really benefitting from one was the time I gave up biscuits (yes, really!). The reason I gained something, was that every time I was tempted (staffrooms are Full of biscuits!) I turned away, saying 'Gethsemene' to myself as a reminder of Jesus' love. So, almost daily, I remembered his sacrifice.
I did eat two biscuits... One was made by my daughter at school and brought home especially for me, how could I refuse such a love-offering? The other cwas 'by accident'. While chatting with a friend I discovered the biscuit in my mouth, unconsciously lifted by my hand from the plate set before me. Which served to keep me humble! It did make me giggle as well.
I think the idea of having a positive action to replace the thing you are giving up is very beneficial - remembering Jesus' sacrifice is good. Or giving away the money usually spent on chocolate etc. And accepting a love-offerings is important!
DeleteMay I join your Lent 2020 group please?
ReplyDeleteOf course- I've added you to the sidebar! thanks for joining in
DeleteMerci pour ce message ( et tous les autres!)et pour ce que vous faites.
ReplyDeleteMerci Vero, que Dieu vous bénisse
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, I meant to write my blog post on Sunday but it just didn't happen (plus CBC was hogging his computer) and I've been out all week till late so I will try to catch up this week!
ReplyDeleteI like what you said. We do things because we want to- not to beat ourselves up about what we are not doing.