Lent (quotes)

From the New York Times:

“There’s something tricky about the secular notion of Lent. You give up something personally important, so its absence will remind you of your purpose in giving it up, but not so important that it disrupts life much. You give up chocolate, but not refrigeration. Bread, but not the Internet. Coffee, but not Downton Abbey. Americans are not a naturally ascetic people, and it shows. Fasting lies at the heart of Lent, and most of us are not fasters. We choose our Lenten sacrifices from a very short menu.”

I’ve struggled with this idea myself. I’ve given up some good things for lent the last couple of years: coffee, tv, etc. But I still drink coffee, and I still watch tv.

So, this year I’m trying something different. Rather than give up something, I’m going to add something. Time to ramp up the Scripture reading.

The goal: the New Testament in 40 days. The hope: this extra reading will cut in (or cut out) other things like tv, like mindlessly surfing the net. Maybe I’m doing it wrong, but this year I like the idea of mixing it up.

Matthew 1, here we go…