Giving it up for Lent... I mean God

In my fanatic state of trying to think up of the best Easter basket stuffers- what toys I wished I had, what goodies I think the receiver would want, should I do a toy story theme?, etc. Before I tumbled headfirst down the path of 'if I' going to do something it has to be the best ever!' a little voice in the back of my head whispered what I had been neglecting all along- "Does anything here reflect the meaning of Easter?" EEP! I was totally missing the big idea. I had turned one of the most glorious days into another materialism fest. An unfortunate practice that our commercial society banks on.

 

Jbear and I got to discussing how to try to explain the meaning of Easter to a little one. It is rather confusing. Even for adults. The disciples had no idea what Jesus meant when he said the temple would be rebuilt in 3 days. What is torture? How can someone become undead? Obviously showing Passion of the Christ is a little much for a 4 year-old. I'm thinking of getting a children's bible and hopefully that will make things a bit more age appropriate. I think its easy to get caught up in every day things and neglect the little opportunities to teach morals, values, and beliefs. Deuteronomy actually emphasizes how you should take every opportunity to be teaching children.

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. 

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

What do kids or even grownups think of when you say the words Good Friday, Easter, or Christmas? These are some of my first thoughts:

Good Friday- markets are closed so holiday for finance people, lucky ducks! i wish i had the day off. why is it called good if it was the day Jesus died? shouldn't it be sad Friday?

 

Easter- easter egg hunts, peeps, pastel m&m's, cadburry eggs, easter baskets, flowery dresses, springtime!, rain, flowers, oh yeah a special church service!, inspirational greetings with pictures of crosses on them, Jesus, that one song Because He Lives

 

Christmas- black friday sale, shopping, red & green, santa, elfs, christmas movies!, greeting cards, company shutdown, vacation, nativity scenes, happy birthday Jesus

Even for pagan holidays, I doubt most people spent much time to think about the origins. We're too busy seeing family and stuffing our faces with chocolate or food. This was probably the first time I participated in Lent. (I gave up DDR for 40 days before. That was a big deal to me in high school.) What do people think of at the mention of Lent? Denying oneself? I utterly failed with the whole no online shopping thing (I bought a salad spinner the other day too.) Do our little sacrifices amount to the real meaning of Lent? It's easy to say I'm giving up blahblah for Lent because it's tradition or habit or expected of you. But did you really give up your whole self? We're supposed to deny ourselves daily. Daily like the whole year not just a couple weeks.

I really liked the Ash Wednesday devotional from Christianbooks.com. 

Excerpts from this book.

Small Surrenders: A Lenten Journey
by: Emilie Griffin

We are not converted only once in our lives but many times, and this endless series of large and small conversions, inner revolutions, leads to our transformation in Christ.
--Thomas Merton


I'll just paraphrase:

1. its custom to give up something for Lent

• Good for casual conversion
• But only surface deep - not what Christ lived an died for

2. there should be a spiritual transformation

• Transformation is through a series for large and small inner revolutions
• It is not the act of giving up something that changes us but rather the willingness to change
• We admit need for improvement, recognizing our hopelessness and put ourselves in God's hands
• This process is endless

3. Jesus is an example of this

• Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.
• Hunger opened himself up to assaults from the Devil
• This was a spiritual exercise of surrender, putting himself in the Father's hands

4. This is training

• This was preparation for a larger calling and greater work later on
• Practice for improvement
• The Devil attacked and wanted to weaken Jesus' allegiance
• Jesus responded with scripture. Be solid in God's Word.

5. Lessons learned

• Jesus showed emptiness is the beginning of holiness. 
• We are blessed when we hunger and thirst for righteousness. We will be filled.
• Walk with Jesus and be nourished with the Word. It is easier to walk through the desert and our own hunger and thirst will suddenly be tolerable.
• We are converted not only once in our lives but many times through small surrenders.
• Lent custom causes us to intentionally do this.
• Through small surrenders we become free.

This kind of reminds me of reminds me of the idea in Buddhism how it is important to give up things. Attachment to things or desire are actually sources of suffering. Sacrificing actually leads to happiness. I guess the ultimate goals are a bit different (happiness vs. glorifying God) but the theme of giving up something and denying yourself seems pretty universal. Too bad its still so hard in practice.