Lent is about taking a season of each year to focus on our relationship with Christ in a special way. It allows us some time out of each year to stop and take a look at ourselves, to see how we may have strayed, and to take stock of our hearts in an intentional manner.
Many people will take these forty days as a time to give something up--to deny themselves something they would otherwise enjoy. This is a good practice.
An important caveat: Christianity is not primarily a matter of those things we do not do. Following Christ is not a matter of avoiding bad things. Being a Christian is much more defined as a positive thing--Discipleship is about following Jesus, doing the things Jesus did and obeying the things he told us to do. I find it a real shame that Christians are often known for what they are against rather than what they are for.
At the same time, to follow Jesus means that we must deny ourselves those things that will impede our ability to follow him fully. When I was an athlete in high school, there were many things I did not eat so that my body would be able to do what I wanted it to do on a basketball court or a running track. This was never a matter of thinking that ice cream or soft drinks were a bad thing or a moral wrong. They just were not things I could put in my body if I wanted my body to perform properly.
If we want to follow Jesus, there are things we will have to say no to. Even good things. Giving something up for Lent is good practice. It gives us the experience of telling ourselves "no." Food is a good thing. And yet, Jesus went without food for forty days. When the opportunity came that he was tempted to say yes to earthly glory and misuse of his miraculous power for personal benefit, his soul was prepared to say no because he had said no to his most basic craving for forty days.
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, made a regular practice of fasting for his entire life. He fasted every Friday. He would skip the evening meal on Thursday and resume eating on Friday evening. He taught that a weekly self-denial of food helped him to be disciplined the rest of the week. It trained him to recognize that his true sustenance came from God, not food. Fasting helps us to recognize how dependent we are, how we are constantly in need of something outside of ourselves to survive. It breaks down our pride and sense of self-sufficiency. When we use this realization as a means of spiritual discipline, it helps us to approach God in humility.
Another caveat--Fasting is not designed to be a matter of spiritual heroics. Long fasts are counter-productive. They make us proud of our ability to be ascetic masters. They cause us to look down on others who are not as disciplined. They can damage our health. Children should never fast for this reason.
Many people modify the practice of fasting during Lent. They recognize that there are many things we might deny ourselves to great spiritual benefit without giving up food entirely, even for short periods of time. Some people give up rich foods, such as chocolate or other sweets. Once again, giving up even certain kinds of foods, even when we never allow ourselves to be truly hungry, serves the purpose of realizing how difficult it can be to deny ourselves anything. It causes us to recognize our need of God's grace in order to have self-control. It is an opportunity learn how to overcome temptation by leaning on God. If we use it as a means of weight loss or other health concern, we have turned it into a vanity and lost the spiritual benefit.
Many people recognize that there is more in life to be consumed than food, that we have many things in our lives that are not necessarily harmful that might otherwise distract us from our relationship with God. Some people give up television, social media, or other forms of noise and static. This practice can be very fruitful if we fill our newly found time with conversation with God and if we fill up the silence created by shutting out some noise with attention to the voice of God. Again, if these forms of self-denial serve no positive purpose in our discipleship, then they can serve as nothing more than behavior modification and time management exercises at best, and opportunity for spiritual pride at worst.
Lent can be a time to give up certain foibles and habits, too. Forty days is a good amount of time to give up smoking for a person who finds smoking an impediment to discipleship. Many people observe an alcohol-free Lent. Christians disagree on the role of alcohol in Christian discipleship. Some think serious Christians should abstain from alcohol completely, while others think that responsible alcohol use is permissible and even beneficial for a Christian. Giving up alcohol for Lent can serve as a way to focus on spiritual disciplines. It can also help us recognize if alcohol has too much of a role in our lives, because no Christian should depend on alcohol so much that setting it aside for forty days should be a problem. If a person is unable to observe an alcohol-free Lent, perhaps that person should take this realization as a moment of clarity and an opportunity to address the problem.
Some people give up swearing, gossiping, yelling at their kids, gambling, or other bad habits. In these circumstances, they know that they would be better never doing the things they choose to give up for a short time. Lent gives opportunity to address a problem, and it gives a manageable time period to get out of the rhythm of doing something so that a more permanent change might follow. It's helpful to say, "I don't know that I can completely stop doing [fill-in-the-blank], but I think, with God's help, I can quit for forty days." After forty days, maybe the person will find it easier to give the bad habit up for good. If not, the experience of struggling with it will still have spiritual benefit.
It's very important that when we give something up for Lent, we do so in order to grow spiritually. For this reason, the things we add for Lent are more important than the things we take away. We should focus more on the prayer, scripture reading, additional worship services, covenant groups, or other means of listening to God to which we might avail ourselves. The things we take away serve the things we add, not the other way around.
The process of prayerfully choosing a Lenten discipline is in itself a Lenten discipline. When we begin to think about what we should do to draw closer to God, or what we should set aside in order to grow closer to God, we have begun to carefully take stock of things in our lives we value and things that have crept in that we do not need.
Here are some resources to help you:
An article on the UMC's alcohol free Lent initiative from last year: http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=2789393&ct=11631509
A wonderful online guide for daily prayer:
http://commonprayer.net/
John Wesley on fasting:
http://www.biblebb.com/files/jw-001fasting.htm
May we all observe a fruitful Lent!
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