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Are You Giving Up Chocolate for Lent?

Posted Feb 19, 11:15 AM | 2 comments | by Editor | Link

By Christine Sine:

The season of Lent is only a week away as it begins on Ash Wednesday, February 25. Lent, those days before Easter that commemorate the 40 days Jesus spent out in the wilderness before his ministry began, invites us to contemplate our own Christian journey and consider the disciplines we need to become whole. How can we deepen our relationship to God as we meet with and represent Christ through our words and action?

Many of us are unfamiliar with the practice of Lent though its observance is gaining popularity in all kinds of churches from Baptist to Pentecostal. Those of us who do acknowledge it tend to think of Lent as a time to give up some non essential food item like chocolate or activities such as watching TV. Some of us fast for a day or two and get a warm glow of satisfaction because of our sacrifice but these observances make little if any difference to the ongoing journey of our lives. But compared to Jesus fasting for 40 days out in the desert that all seems rather trivial.

Lent is not really about sacrifice or deprivation. In the early church this was a time of preparation for those about to be baptized. Today it is more often regarded as a season of soul searching and repentance for all Christians as a preparation for the joy and celebration of Easter. Unfortunately for many of us our soul searching is as perfunctory as our sacrifices. We spend a little more time reading the bible and in prayer. Some of us spend a few hours working with a local mission we are concerned about but otherwise our lives are unchanged and after Easter there is very little to show for our commitment.

During Lent this year I would like to invite you to join us at Mustard Seed Associates on a journey with Jesus towards the Cross, a journey that we hope will change our lives forever. We want to challenge you to set aside time to deepen your relationship with God by entering the brokenness of our world. Allow yourself to encounter Christ as you reflect on all the aspects of your life and of our world that distort your ability to live as effective representatives of God and God’s kingdom.

A couple of years ago, after the 10th person told me they were giving up chocolate for Lent I became extremely frustrated and decided to produce a Lenten guide that encouraged people to make some meaningful sacrifices during this season. Each week we focused on a different aspect of the brokenness of the human condition — with activities from easy to challenging that people could participate in.

We have just completed an update of this resource and are working on a second part that will expand the activities and resources into the celebration of Easter — not just the day but the whole season up to Pentecost. I am inspired by N.T. Wright’s comment, “If Calvary means putting to death things in your life that need killing off if you are to flourish as a Christian and as a truly human being, then Easter should mean planting, watering, and training up things in your life that ought to be blossoming …” I am also concerned that when I look at images that portray both the despair and hope of our world that it was easier to find the images of despair than of hope. So often our celebration of Easter seems to focus on the walk to the Cross rather than on God’s resurrection-created kingdom. The moment Easter Sunday arrives most Christians I know seem to lose interest in continuing the celebration.

This new Lenten guide includes weekly reflections, litanies, and resources to help you on your journey. There is no charge for this resource however we do ask that if you use it that you consider a donation to Mustard Seed Associates to enable us to continue producing similar resources. The suggested donation is $5 per participant.

There are two ways in which you can participate in this journey through Lent and Easter:

1. Get involved. We invite you to join us in our journey through Lent and Easter. Get together each week with a group of friends or your small group at church, use the reflections and participate in the activities.


2. If you have a blog, join my synchroblog during Lent and Easter to focus on the meaning of Lent and the celebration of Easter in this practical way. Obviously this will involve far more than a simple blog post as each person involved would need to engage in at least one of the activities listed. You may like to just use the guide for a single week. The most popular activity last time was the Mutunga $2 Challenge to restrict one’s food budget to $2 per person per day for a week. If you would like to be a part of the synchroblog, I would ask you to commit to a minimum of one week involvement during Lent and one week during the Easter season. The weeks during Lent focus on the brokenness of the world; the weeks of Easter leading up to Pentecost will focus on what is blossoming — signs of the kingdom that give us hope and encouragement. During this season I will profile organizations and individuals you know who are making a difference in their communities and around the world and so giving hope to all of us that our lives can make a difference for God. The topics for each of the five weeks of Lent will be: inner brokenness, poverty, homelessness, creation, and broken unity within the church. For the Easter season, the topics will focus on where God’s new world is blossoming: in inner healing, in overcoming poverty and homelessness, creation stewardship, and unity within the body of Christ.

Each week I will post the links to the reflections bloggers have written as well as other resources that can help people for the following week. I will also post a series of meditation videos that you might like to use for meditation during the week. This will culminate in two celebration presentations, one during Holy week when I will post a special “Stations of the Cross” presentation compiled from some of the ideas expressed in the blog posts and reflections that others send in. During Pentecost I will post another series focused on “Stations of the Banquet,” images and reflections that show the glory of God.

Please let others know about this resource and encourage them to send me reflections, photos, or ideas that can be incorporated in either the Stations of the Cross presentation or the Stations of the Banquet presentation.

Image by Karen (thepack on Flickr)

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Christine Sine is co-founder (along with her husband Tom) of Mustard Seed Associates, a passionate organic gardener, and a contemplative activist.

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