Lent 2008

It's been a wonderful Lenten season. I've spent most of my devotional time trying to move away from the everyday information and knowledge world in which I usually work into the more simple, connected, peace filled world of mysticism and centering. There's been the poetry of Rumi, the inward, more gnostic focus of Deepak Chopra's The Third Jesus (which I'm about half way through, reading it in a leisurely way), visualization work and meditation, and my participation in a online discussion group focused on the Kybalion and the mystical elements that lie at the heart of all the major religions' spirituality. And my yoga classes during this six week period have turned out to be a great addition to the inward journey. Despite all the hectic, outward stuff that's been competing for my attention-- the D.Min. project, the extra church work during the Lenten season, the classes I'm taking and the ones I'm teaching, and the Second Life stuff for Mercy-- the season has felt like a liberating Lent.

Friday Five: What Are You Doing For Lent?

Here are RevGalBlogPals Friday Five for the week:


1. Did you celebrate Mardi Gras and/or Ash Wednesday this week? How?
Instead of Mardi Gras, my congregation and I celebrated Dimanche Gras the Sunday before—lots of bright colors, jazzy music, drumming along with communion in worship, followed by a potluck meal afterwards.

2. What was your most memorable Mardi Gras/Ash Wednesday/Lent?
Probably my second Lent while attending a Catholic high school. The first year really showed me what Lent was all about. By the second year, I’d sorted through the traditions and was able to apply those that fit my more Protestant upbringing.

3. Did you/your church/your family celebrate Lent as a child? If not, when and how did you discover it?
Not really. The Reformed and Presbyterian churches we attended mentioned Lent once or twice during the season and then focused on Palm Sunday and Easter (skipping most of holy week as well as the rest of the Lenten season). At home we gave something—usually chocolate—up for Lent. But there wasn’t much depth behind any of it. It wasn't until I was sent to Catholic school that I became aware of the liturgical seasons.

4. Are you more in the give-up camp, or the take-on camp, or somewhere in between?
It depends on the year and what feels most like it will help me along the wilderness journey path for the issues in my life at the time. Some years, that means giving up something that I’ve found standing in my way of practicing resurrection. Other years, it’s meant taking on something. For the last two years, for example, I’ve added the practice of keeping “fixed-hour” prayer (using Phyllis Tickle’s The Divine Hours ).

5. How do you plan to keep Lent this year?
Lenten devotions and prayer, meditation, and the reading of Bread and Wine along with RevGalBlogPals.