Lent 2020

Hello, yes, even though I’m a born-and-raised Baptist currently a member of a non-denominational church, I still celebrate Lent. This all started last year when one of my friends shared an article on Facebook discussing the Lenten season from a non-Catholic perspective. The 40 days before Easter are meant to sacrifice and fast, much like Jesus did for 40 days in the desert. This time invites us to really reflect on the sacrifice Jesus made for us and spend some time honoring Him and realigning your life to His will. That’s all. Nothing crazy, nothing fancy. 

I currently work at an Episcopal seminary, which is a faith very similar to Catholic, so Lent is a pretty big deal around here. Of course, they put ashes on their foreheads and recite prayers from a book and do some other things that I don’t partake in or fully understand, but I’m also learning a lot from their rituals. For instance, do you remember how Paul conveys the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians? This is the passage they read as they take communion, every single day. Paul says “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death when He comes.” Most churches have the Lord’s Supper once every three to four months. Some churches do it every week. The Seminary does it Monday through Friday, then at their own churches I’m assuming every Sunday. At first it seems excessive, but Paul says whenever you eat bread or drink wine, think of Jesus’ sacrifice. And I don’t know about y’all, but I eat some form of bread almost every day and I drink wine… a lot. That’s how often I should be remembering Jesus and His death and resurrection, and that has just hit me recently. Don’t let it become complacent. Don’t let it just be a Bible story you heard in kids church. Let it invade your everyday life. 

Anyway so I am participating in Lent this year, just to have a six-week season of more intentional time with my Father while I fast from something that tends to take up a lot of time and headspace. For the first time really ever, I’m giving up TV. And by TV I mean Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, YouTube, and movies. Pretty much everything I’m absolutely addicted to. Even during times where I fasted from screens, I allowed myself to watch things if I was spending time with Colton. I allowed myself to fall asleep to The Office, because it’s the only way I could sleep.

But guess what? I’ve been doing this for six days so far, and I’ve slept absolutely fine without falling asleep to the hum of Netflix. And Colton and I are actually sitting at the table for dinner and although we were nervous about how we’d spend our evenings during this fast, we have had no shortage of conversation topics. Multiple times, we just ended up talking and before we knew it, it was after 9:00. Used to, we would scurry through a retelling of our day and then catch up on our YouTube. Now, we’ve had long, intentional conversations for hours on end and it’s been amazing. I’ve been reading and writing and creating art a lot more than I have been recently, and I actually think I’ve been sleeping better, what a concept. (Seriously, I don’t think you understand. Ask my mother, I’ve been falling asleep to the TV since middle school.) This had seriously become an addiction where I was spending every lunch break, every free moment, and every night before bed with my eyes glued to a TV show, more often than not, one that I’d already seen several times. But now I’m learning to be more productive with my time and I’ve been spending that time with Colton and with God and it’s been great.

Next week, my blog is more about how exactly I’ve been spending my time with God, so be on the lookout for that. In the meantime, happy Lent to those who celebrate and happy Monday to those who don’t, both are totally great in my book.