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I hadn’t planned on it. I had grown up with it in elementary school and respected it. But I was working at the Shelter I volunteer at. It is housed in a church that celebrates Lent. The previous pastor who created the homeless shelter died a couple of weeks ago, very suddenly. The fill in pastor and I were just checking in and she invited me to partake. It felt like I was honoring the previous pastor, so I did. I found myself drawn toward the Lenten idea even more. The 46 days of sacrifice. The intent of the Ashes. The entire ritual. All day today I have a sense of yearning to keep a Lent devotion. More so than in the past.
I also appreciated the idea of rituals in religion.
I am interested to see how my lent will go.
I did Lent last year (but not the Ash Wednesday ritual itself). There’s much more to Lent than giving up chocolate (or whatever). I know that Old Guard who would take offense at the suggestion we do Lent would offer up the “We (are supposed to) do those things all year round” defense but I honestly got something spiritually out of doing it last year. FWIW, like many others who do Lent I didn’t even do it very well nor for the entire time – but that’s OK. I recently learned the English word Carnival comes from the German celebration prior to Lent and literally means “Without meat” Carne-Val. I too have felt spiritual stirrings during the religious rituals of other faiths. May this be a “tender mercy” unto you.
My boyfriend was raised Lutheran. So, we celebrated Lent this year with the candles and readings. At Christmas we have an Advent calendar. It has been very enjoyable and special for us both (drawing us closer to Christ). Quote:So, we celebrated Lent this year with the candles and readings. At Christmas we have an Advent calendar. It has been very enjoyable and special for us both (drawing us closer to Christ).
That is beautiful. I am finding myself drawn to those traditions for the same reason. I need a Christ dunk. Keep it up.
I think one of the nice things about the rituals of other churches, including Judaism, is that they seem to have a deep meaning to every part of them. Sometimes it’s just a matter of looking beyond the surface, such as Lent being much more than just giving up something like chocolate. The rituals all have a purpose. Sometimes I get a little surprised and sometimes a little distressed at how little many members know of other churches. I get the idea that if they feel they’ve found the one true church then there is no need to look outside of it, but I also think we can learn much from them – including some ritual. And I think the top leadership is not totally against the idea as evidenced by a renewed emphasis on the sacrament (as close as we get to ritual in regular meetings).
ETA: I was looking for this earlier when I responded. It’s kind of a cool little thing, but the most surprising thing to me was at the end when it compares how much each religion knows about others or basic religious beliefs (especially Christian). This is what I was talking about when I said I was distressed at how little some members seem to know about anything outside their own worlds. (Hint: Members of the church formerly known as Mormons do worse than Atheists by a fairly big margin.)
https://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/u-s-religious-knowledge-quiz/?utm_source=AdaptiveMailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=19-07-23%20Religious%20Knowledge&org=982&lvl=100&ite=4386&lea=1011042&ctr=0&par=1&trk= ” class=”bbcode_url”> https://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/u-s-religious-knowledge-quiz/?utm_source=AdaptiveMailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=19-07-23%20Religious%20Knowledge&org=982&lvl=100&ite=4386&lea=1011042&ctr=0&par=1&trk= I’ll share how I did if others do.
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