Fasting and Feasting in Lent.

FEASTING in Lent? Really?

Isn’t it all about giving things up? Especially the things you like the most ….

Or even just giving up…

Or maybe GIVING UP giving up.

Because we could TAKE UP instead.

Forty days of renewal.

Forty days to go deeper.

Apparently it takes 21 days to confirm a new habit and 42 days to make it a lifestyle.

What new, or re-newing, lifestyle could help your journey with the Lord?

What could you TAKE UP instead of (or as well as) GIVING UP?

Giving up chocolate? And alcohol? Sugar or biscuits? Coffee or tea?

What do you give up for Lent?

They’re all good and helpful, and in giving them up it helps guard us from gluttony and desire and filling our minds with what might be unhelpful things. Reminding us that we are, essentially, dust. Easily trapped into wanting more of what’s not helpful.

I’m TAKING UP a daily devotional for Lent, something I do every year.

This year, it’s THE GRACE FILLED WILDERNESS by Magdalen Smith

You can buy the book here

Here’s the online blurb:

The Grace-filled Wilderness connects contemporary encounters of wilderness with the traditional themes of Lent and Jesus' journey to the cross. Magdalen Smith invites us to consider a series of subjects that are double-edged - they can bring us life or, if we handle them in the wrong way, drain life from us.

Our appetites, our identity, our work, our sense of freedom and our struggles with anxiety and pain are explored in connection with what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Six full weeks of readings help us to move gradually from wilderness to grace, until, finally, we encounter the miracle, hope and joy of Easter.

'On every page of this Lent book, there's an invitation to journey which is as enticing as it is challenging. I found myself wanting to venture into the wilderness out of choice and not simply circumstance, and the adventure left me seeing, feeling and sharing in God's grace.'
Jo Wells, Bishop of Dorking

Join me on the journey?

And tell me what you’re GIVING UP and TAKING UP on your journey through Lent to Easter day?

How to Feast and Fast during Lent

Forty days to go deeper.

Apparently it takes 21 days to confirm a new habit and 42 days to make it a lifestyle.

What new, or re-newing, lifestyle would best help your current walk with the Lord?

What might help you to go deeper in a relationship with him?

LENT.

A few weeks without chocolate.
And maybe alcohol.
A few weeks of abstinence. 
Of giving up things we like.

Or maybe for Lent this year - just giving up.

Hurry up, Easter. And spring. And chocolate eggs.

But maybe there's another way.
A way of feasting as well as fasting.

A way of drawing near to the Lord in and through it all. 


FASTING & FEASTING
Fast from a gloomy outlook on life
Feast on what is bright and cheerful.
 
Fast from always being right
Feast on seeing another's point of view.
 
Fast from always pointing out differences
Feast on what unites us all.
 
Fast from words that pollute
Feast on those that purify.
 
Fast from complaining
Feast on appreciation.
 
Fast from self-pity
Feast on goodness in others and self.
 
Fast from self-concern
Feast on going out to others.
 
Fast from overdoing
Feast on time for prayer.
 
Fast from worry
Feast on God's love.

(Father Kerry: Our Lady Queen of Angels
bulletin Lenten Reflection: Feb 2010.)

Come swiftly O Lord, to the dark moments when we are lost.
Make us aware of your presence.
Strengthen us to resist the urges and pulls to deeper darkness.
Stir us to move away from the dark moments of sinfulness
towards the light of your forgiveness.
Come quickly O Lord as we call – or forget to call – and
keep close to us and keep us close to you this day and night,
and as far as the days and nights stretch before us.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Amen.