Dry (Maybe even harmful) Lenten Traditions

I wrote this for our March newsletter:

One of my old professors gave up anxiety for Lent.  The anxiety was wrecking her life and her relationship with God. During Lent, whenever anxiety arose, she paired it with silent prayer.  She didn’t rush to fix the anxiety with ‘doing,’ drinking, or medication—she prayed.  It was a struggle. By the end of Lent, she discovered the core problem that was creating her anxiety. 

Do you ever wonder why you give up the things you do for Lent?  I worry that we often get in Lenten fasting routines.  Every year Christians give up the same things—chocolate, sweets, soda, and social media—and we often can’t remember why.  I have friends who have given up sweets for ten years in a row and they have no idea why they are torturing themselves. We have missed the point of fasting if we no longer think about the ‘why.’  We are not called to be purposeless martyrs.

Some of the fasts we choose might do more harm than good. Another one of my old professors, Amy Laura Hall, suggests that it might be better for some to eat chocolate during lent. Imagine an individual giving up food who is anorexic or suffers from body-image problems. In a world where women are made to feel self-conscious, a strawberry dipped in chocolate might be the right reminder that women are loved by God and to be filled with God’s grace. 

The point of Lent is not to give something up to “better yourself.”  It is not to lose weight, look better, or prove something to yourself.  The point is to give up anything that is blocking God from coming into view. I urge you to reflect on your practices of fasting.  Are you stuck in a dry ‘Lenten tradition?’  What is your fast doing in your relationship with God? Is God becoming clearer? Or Fuzzier?

How can you be filled with God’s grace in a way that God will use you to fill others with God’s grace?

We are not all in the same place.  Hall cleverly notes that ‘we are sinful in original ways.’ Your Lenten practice might look different from another person’s because YOU are different. It might be better for some of us to give up anxiety, take a bubble bath and soak in the love of our God.