Are you giving something up for Lent? What and Why?
Lent is known as the as the 40 weekday period between Ash Wednesday and Holy Saturday. It marks a time of humility, repentance, and soul searching as one draws closer to the Passion of Christ.
I appreciate the Lenten season. I really do but I’m ambivalent about how vogue it is to give something up during Lent. Especially when it’s something like chocolate, coffee, sodas, sugar, Facebook, Twitter, television, and so on.
I don’t want to knock those who give stuff up. In fact, I commend you but I want to know why. If the goal is merely the giving up of something without taking up of something more significant, the focus is just merely on that which we give up.
So here’s the question:
In what way does the self-denial of whatever make you more mindful of Christ and His Way?
For me, I don’t want to think of it as a giving up but rather a season of more deeply ‘giving in’ or ‘giving to’…
- In what way of am I more compelled to give in to the ways of God?
- How am I more deeply giving in and giving to – to my neighbors, wife, children, church, strangers, etc?
- How am I more deeply giving or growing in stewardship, generosity, my convictions, etc?
- How am I more giving in to the Ways of Christ? How am I more giving in to Mercy, Justice, and Humility?
Here’s an alternative invitation for Lent – whether you give up something or not:
Don’t give up anything. Rather, give yourself wholly to Jesus.
Filed under: christianity, Jesus, lent
thanks, good blog!
Wholeheartedly agree. Blessed are the hungry for they will be filled. Hunger for Christ.
Thanks Eugene. Great thoughts. Giving something up seems to distract our focus, doesn’t it? Instead of focusing on Christ and his journey to the cross, we focus on ourselves and our own issues. His issues were a tad more serious, and focusing on him can help us in our own issues. More self-focus won’t help anything, though! Thanks…
Kevin
shalomer.blogspot.com
“Whatever your heart clings to and confides in that is really your God.” Martin Luther
I gave up words. I can do this – my blog – because it isn’t my livelihood. I did this so that I can hear. This has quieted much of the noise. (Except my children!)
I am seeking and listening. From my blog:
“….Lent is a time to peer into your own soul. to face what you have become. a time for less activity and busyness. to thaw from winter. to feel the warmth and hope of spring. lent. it is moments of listening, seeking, searching, clearing, hoping, resting — lent is a time of forgiving and healing…. “
I preached at our ash wednesday service last night on Isaiah 58 and their fake fasts so to speak. I encouraged us to Fast For something this year instead of Fasting From things that don’t affect anyone else but our own self esteem.
I am a little skeptical of the whole giving-things-up-during Lent in our current context: seems like too often it ends up being a time when people give up things they should give up anyway (cigarettes! sugared soda habit!) or they view it as a way to spiritualize their personal diet plan. (Scot McKnight recently wrote a book on fasting which would be great for anyone interested in fasting as a spiritual discipline rather than diet.)
Thank you for reminding us that Lent is observed by taking something on in addition to giving something up. The two go hand-in-hand. Giving up caffeine? Donate the money you would’ve spent on coffee – to ODW!
I’d love to see the decrease in chocolate-purchasing during March and April be matched by an increase in justice-promoting.
Hey, are you the one behind telling Paul to give up a little more caffeine from Q Cafe.
I’ve been reading this blog for awhile but never left a comment…
I like this post a lot. But there seems to be a common misconception in the world today in Christian/Bi-annual Christian (the Christians that only attend church on Christmas and Easter) circles regarding Lent and fasting. Many people do this for personal and frankly selfish reasons…the point behind fasting and Lent isn’t to get something out of the process for yourself but to get closer to Christ. Take the time you would eat (facebook, twitter, ect.) and spend time in prayer and getting into the Word. When we are less dependent on things of this world we can be more dependent on Him.
“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” -2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
Eugene summed it up perfectly I think “don’t give up anything. Give yourself wholly to Jesus.”
“…Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.” -Colossians 3:11 (NLT)
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by Natezilla17: http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/dont-give-up-anything-for-lent-give-yourself/ – Eugene Cho on Lent. http://tumblr.com/xhf6k6lyh…
i’m giving up television for Lent. i plan to redirect the time i spend vegging out in front of tv(or laptop watching hulu) to praying, diving in Scripture and giving more of myself to my community.
i found that fasting, praying and intentionally creating spaces like this often leads to rich encounters with God or with other people that i had not planned for or anticipated.
awj: i love this.
and as i wrote on the post, i commend those who thoughtfully and prayerfully give up somehthing
that means “something” to them…
but replace it with something that will aid them in their focus of christ.
Yeah, I echo this. I’ve been watching people give things up, and I sort of want to join, mostly because I’m learning about the liturgy that I was never exposed to in my childhood, and would like to follow the classic church calendar. However, I still don’t understand Lent. I know people give things up, but WHY. What is the purpose?
You know, I agree with you–but, I am giving up something for lent this year–something I crave every day–chocolate! Yep, I’m one of those… Part of my desire to give up chocolate is to free myself from an addiction. The intentional benefit from this fast is a reminder of all that Christ gave up for me and a reminder to myself of my deep desire to identify more with Him, give myself more to Him in worship, love and service. I have to make intentional choices to be generous with myself–and old fashioned object lessons capture my attention and help me live more intentionally. So while chocolate may be a luxury item to give up, for me it is an intention choice to create an object lesson in my life to give myself more to Christ–to crave Him above everything, to have no other gods before Him.
The really fun part of my chocolate fast is that I started a few weeks ago and have not had a craving or caving for chocolate since then, I’ve been able to live each day more anchored to my Rock who is worth everything–all the large and small details of my life. I believe that my little chocolate fast was prompted by the Holy Spirit who wanted to use this tool of Lent to draw me closer to my God. Isn’t it awesome that our God is so intimate and individualized in His plan to perfect each one of us?
linda: awesome.
without sounding weird, really proud of you. this is the kind of giving up that i love and am encouraged by.
thanks for sharing.
Thanks for this post. I’m glad I found it.
Speaking from a recovering pharisaical perspective (call me “RP”), I can easily get lost in the ritual of sacrifice and forget the intention/meaning behind the ritual. So for someone like me, giving something up every Lenten season won’t grow my heart much towards God. However, as a previous commenter (Linda) said, this ritual can actually be wholly effective in allowing someone to be more aware of God. I’m slowly starting to realize that there really is no formula to this… God will work through old and new ways to reach and grow us, and for that, I am grateful.
Excellent post and thoughts. I agree… and I’m not knocking the “giving up something” gig either… but if I give up Pepsi and Facebook and don’t get closer to Jesus, what’s the point? I’ve prayed about what to “sacrifice” this year, and what I keep hearing is to give myself… to give my focus… and to more intentionally love my wife. Sounds like a plan to me!
Eugene;
a few years ago I gave up fast food. three days in to Lent as I drove home from seattle I REALLY wanted Taco Bell. I caved.. and was faced with seriously the LONGEST line EVER. so I went and got a sandwich and as I was writing, the Lord convicted me really bad… why give up fast food if I wasn’t going to address my spiritual arrogance? why enter in to a time of spiritual growth if I wasn’t even going to bring the Lord in it with me?
so instead of giving things up (which I think can be dangerous if we don’t also focus on replacing them) this Lent for me it’s more about building healthier habits. I’m giving up sweets because I want to have a better grasp on not using food as entertainment, and replacing it with drinking more water. I’ve given up ‘grande’ and above coffee drinks and limited myself to tall drinks. Most importantly, my friend and I are reading through the Bible during Lent.. which is 30 chapters a day and is, even at day two, an overwhelming task… but if there is anything worth adding into my life, it is Scripture.. and that forces appropriate sacrifices of its own, you know?
Well, what’s the point of fasting in general?
If we see the importance of fasting, it shouldn’t be hard to see the important of a 40 day fast for Lent. We give up something that means something to us, and fill in the empty space left behind with God. If someone spends a lot of time on facebook, and then gives it up for Lent, the point is not to therefore watch hulu.com during the time s/he might have spent on facebook, but instead fill the time s/he might have spent on facebook with prayer, with spiritual reflection, with other acts of devotion.
Eugene, I agree with you on this. For years, I did not bother giving up anything for Lent. But this year, I am giving up something far harder than chocolate. And I do hope it will help me on my spiritual walk.
I am giving up complaining. That’s right. If I feel like talking about something that goes wrong just to get pity or “vent,” I am stopping myself. I am keeping a journal of this experience.
My intent is to get past all my bad feelings about everything that’s gone wrong in my life over the past couple of years, and start appreciating what’s going right.
A big part of Lent is about confronting the reality of sinfulness, so we can appreciate the magnitude and significance of Jesus’ sacrifice. It should shake us out of our comfort zone. When you give something up, there will be times when even your moral instincts conspire to try and help you rationalize your way around keeping the pledge. To experience this and withstand it is a valuable part of growing in faith, as well as understanding the human condition and just how radically Jesus transcended it with his own sacrifice.
Sin starts with temptation. Many, like myself, don’t feel temptation all that much because it’s such second nature to succumb to it. Giving things up is a way to _feel_ temptation, realize its power, realize our need for spiritual freedom, be forced to take time to think about it. Even if you succumb, you still learn something. If you’re giving up candy and eating cookies, then yes that’s meaningless, because you’re giving up something you won’t miss, and it won’t really have any spiritual effect. But I don’t know of any examples where someone gave up something they _did_ miss, stuck with it, and _didn’t_ come away with what seemed like a meaningful experience.
I don’t disagree with your message – if “giving yourself fully to Jesus” is a message that really works for people and they approach it with dedication and accountability in the way that one would typically approach a Lenten sacrifice, then it can be every bit as powerful and moreso. But if it’s taken as simply a re-affirmation to continue focusing on the things that Christianity already strives toward in the rest of the year (which I think is an all-to-easy way for folks like me to interpret such a message), then I think it misses out on the unique opportunity of the season to appreciate the struggle.
For me, it’s not about giving things up. It’s about asking for things to die. Blogged this week about it using a prayer from Henri Nouwen. It’s changed the way I’ve looked at Lent entirely.
I’d be curious to know what people in developing nations would think about this whole line of dialogue. “Give up something?” “Well, my family and I might eat decently once a day.” “Chocolate?” “Coffee?” “Internet?” “We’d just like our water pump to work so we won’t have to walk an hour to haul water from the stream.”
Maybe part of giving up something is to in some way empathize witih those whose vocabulary doesn’t even include desserts, lattes, chocolates, etc.
Of course, our Lord gave up food for 40 days. Did that make him shallow in true fasting? I don’t think so. Don’t underestimate the power of sefl-denial of the common things of life to bring out the devil for combat.
[...] really like this blog post about giving things up for Lent by Eugene Cho (he has a really interesting blog that I read from [...]
Thank you for the reminder, PE.
This year I gave up iPhone apps. It sounds silly…but my morning prayer time has been been pretty amazing since I’ve broken my usual “check facebook/email” while still in bed. A HORRIBLE habit for anyone…but for me it meant being distracted by all the concerns of my day that just flooded at me electronically. Now, I’m seeing how God is working in my life before the tidal wave of information!
I don’t know you or your community, so I may be saying things you are already well aware of, but for me and my church (Episcopal), Lent is described by these words in the Ash Wednesday liturgy:
“The first Christians observed with great
devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith. I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.”
For me (as someone raised in an evangelical church, and still “living my way into” a Lenten discipline), giving up something for Lent is what many have already said–a chance to spend that time with God, a chance to turn from worldly desires that distract us, a chance to share in Christ’s fasting (we start Lent each year by considering his temptation in the wilderness). It ties into the traditions of prayer, almsgiving, and penitence–they reinforce each other. All of these things are important to Christians at all times…but Lent is a chance to focus on them.
I hope this doesn’t come across as at all condescending, but I’m worried it may. I’m honestly really impressed at how you approached this topic, and others have joined in–it’s hard to find a calm discussion of faith (or, in this case, church practices) without seeing it devolve into mudslinging, and I really commend you and the community of people who comment here for your openness to the diversity of Christian experience. It’s a blessing to me today, and I thank you for it.
When Christ told us to pick up our cross and follow him, he new we would suffer in his name. We owe him for what he did for us. When I reflect during the Lenten season,it makes me what to go out and do more for my fellow man in a way that serves the Lord. It’s all for his glory, and not for ours. Talk to a friend in need, give someone a bible or just sit with an old timer for a while. You will be blessed.