Lent: Day 3

The force of habit is a strong thing. This morning my family was going through our normal routine: get up, get the kids up and dressed for school (socks and shoes too?), make sure everyone eats something (but I'm not hungry), get the lunches made (daddy, I don't like that kind of sandwich), get everyone out the door on time for school. Everything is going normally and I make a pot of coffee (Peet's Major D). Sit down at the computer to check some email. Wow this coffee tastes really good! Then it hits me: out of shear habit I put sugar in my coffee. Oops! A short internal wrestling match later I decide to pour out that sweet nectar of the gods and get another cup sans the sugar. Not as sweet, but this is Peet's so it's still pretty tasty.

It is a gift God gives us in traditions like Lent. They help us to get off autopilot and to become more aware of the moment. They call us to wake up. Jesus kept calling followers to leave behind (repent) their normalized lives that made sense for a life that did not, but that was true living. There are many things in our lives that are not bad or evil or anything negative in and of themselves. Rather, they are clutter and distraction. They demand time of us and lull us into a false sense of peace and security. During this season of Lent I believe that Jesus is calling us to go deeper in being aware of each moment we have with Him and that He is truly the same yesterday, today and forever (ht: to my Foursquare peeps!).

Lent: Day 1

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Lent is traditionally a time of fasting and seeking after God in preparation for the great celebration that is Easter. It is a challenging time. Which sets up this post:
Yesterday, not ten minutes after my initial post the following took place:

• Phone rings: This John from Citibank, I'm calling because your payment is 5 days over due on your new credit card.
• Me: What!?!? (In my mind - I thought we canceled that one because we got a better deal on the other one!) OK, I'll send the payment in today.
• To myself: I can't believe it.. @#$#^$$ I am sure I canceled it. OK, where is the info for this card so I can pay it off an cancel it. (Can't find any paper work on it. Oh great!)
• 30 minutes of me digging through files, looking through piles of paper on my desk until I realize that I applied for this one online and that it is setup for online statements. (More @##$@% to myself because I don't know what the account number is.)
• 10 minutes later I find the card in my dresser drawer.
• OK, now I have the account number, what is the password for the website.
• 5 minutes of futility in trying to guess what the password is until I click on "Forgot Password?"
• Jump through the security hoops so that I can log in and make a payment.
• A bit more @#%&^## to myself.
• Then I remember, Oh yeah this is Lent. A time where I am supposed to put aside my own desires for control and find God in everything I do.
• Many more minutes of confessing and asking God's help and forgiveness.

How often is it that I try to do something for God or to grow in devotion to the One who loves me in spite of myself and it turns out this way!

If this is the beginning of my Lent experience I'd better strap myself in...it's going to be a bumpy road!

40 Days of Lent

I've decided to keep Lent this year. I haven't done it for quite some time, so this should be an interesting journey. I first started celebrating Lent when I was in seminary. My Greek professor was an Orthodox Priest and had a great influence on my spirituality.

The fasting portion of Lent is done to remind the follower of Jesus of his sacrifice. The minor inconveniences that that we endure during this season are daily reminders to pray that the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness and that we are to be a part of living it out where ever we are. Traditionally the money that was not used towards the food was to be given to the poor. The fasting of Lent reminds us that our lives are not simply about our own desires, but rather that we are to give of ourselves as Jesus did: denying our own desires that God's desires for the world would be done through us.

I won't be keeping the Orthodox sun up to sun down fasting. Instead I am going to do without sugar. There is nothing spiritual about going without something, as if sugar where somehow spiritually corrupt. My purpose in doing this is that sugar is in so many of the things I eat and by going without I am constantly reminded throughout my day of season of Lent. I'll be blogging daily over the next forty days as Easter approaches. Leave your comments here on your thoughts of Lent.

Today is "Fat Tuesday" so-called because during the traditional celebration of Lent no fat (read butter, Crisco, etc.) was to be used. Fat Tuesday was the day when all of the fat in the house was to be consumed so as not to waste it. So, for me today will be sugar Tuesday. I will not be taking on some form of Mardi Gras like consuming of sugar, but today will be the last day of consuming sugar until Easter. Oh baby, this ain't gonna be easy!

Ryan Bolger Interview

There is a nice video of Ryan Bolger on the Allelon website.

Twitter

follow petec999 at http://twitter.com

Swimming in Technology

I've been ruminating since the shootings at Virginia Tech about technology. For my parents' generation technology is a tool, especially electronic technology. For my grandparents this was even greater. Talking on the phone with my wife's grandmother (when she was still alive) was always a conversation oddity. She was around when all phone calls were charged by the minute and long distance calls were very expensive. So, she would only talk on the phone in short conversations and then hang up. For me (40 years old) technology is both a tool and a life shaping reality. I recently looked at my wireless phone (Treo 650) and thought that I could keep it for the next 10 years as it does everything that I need it to right now. At the same time I realize that having a wireless phone has helped to shape the way that I live and that changes in that technology will continue to do so. My 9 year-old son is very fond of gadgets, phones especially. Back to the shootings: I read that within 24 hours of the shootings that there were over 17,000 posts on facebook by students from VT. facebook has become the way in which the students at VT and around the country are processing their grief over the experience. The students of today are swimming in technology. It is simply the reality in which they exist.

I recently created a twitter account. If you don't know about twitter, it is a new form of a social networking site where you can post updates to what you are doing at any time during the day. It is a way to keep intimately connected to the activities of others and to share your own. I don't think that twitter will be a life-shaping experience for me like it will for many others: the idea of wanting to know the minute by minutes activities of friends is a bit exhausting, but for those who grow up with the technology at their finger tips it will be a life shaping reality.

How will this affect community? How will this affect relationships? How will this affected the church? Only time will tell, but it is worth knowing about and being connected to.

I listened to a rage by Doug Pagitt today that connected to this. He was going off about how a pastor that he read an article about did not have any publicly listed email address. He conclusion was to point out the irony that during the Easter week that Jesus was accessible, even to his enemies, and that many of us that are 40 over try to keep our distance from others. Perhaps those 20 and younger will understand that aspect of following Jesus in a way that many of us never will.

Obligatory Post

OK, here is my obligatory announcement that I am back to blogging. Yes, like so many other people I started this thing with lots of energy and grand ideas and then got busy with life. Well, that's no good. I'm back baby. I will be blogging regularly and I am going to expand the focus. I am interested in more than church stuff.