SCL

6. Or they might say, “Actually, Lent isn’t even in the Bible.”

8. Nice shout-out to the Red Sox. I always thought they won that one because I had RETURNED to Massachusetts . . .

wv: pikept–having the ability of a pike (I think we’re talking about fish here. But it might be the mediocre daily brew at Starbucks these days).

I am giving up excess spending…not so spiritual but needful.

I gave up tv for 40 days – to get my priorities back on track. I did watch a video that we received of my husband playing Jesus in the church play…that was okay right? And I did tape The Biggest Loser for the 40 days.

When all was said and done, God taught me that I need a lot of work!!!

I gave up drink anything but tap water. It actually inconjunction with Blood:Water Mission. You figure out how much you would have spent on other drinks and send that money to Blood:Water Mission. They use the money to help bring water to African villages.
And drink just water is harder than I thought.

i’ve given up meat for lent…and i just realized that means i dont get to have corned beef and cabbage on my birthday (st patty’s day).
i’m giving up lent for lent right now. thanks, acuff, for that wake-up call.

Unoriginal but chocolate.
When I stress I reach for it and bake with it a lot but what I should be doing is praying and coincidentally this had been a hard week and I’ve been able to focus on God a little bit better.

facebook

Maybe you could just listen to the radio on Fridays.

(Have I read the comments yet? No)

There’s no reason why you couldn’t make up your own Lent period, at another time of the year, and just give something up then. A few years ago I was listening to talk radio all day, then watching TV at night, and I realized that it had become a barrier of noise that kept me from listening to God. So I just took about a week, notice I didn’t go for Lent-length, and put myself on a broadcast media fast. It really helped me to rediscover quietness.

Secular Music. Yes, I am a christian, but in my cars I like certain radio stations. So I have been abstaining from them. I actually brought a cd that teaches “us” spanish. (Me and the kids) I am now doing something constructive with my drive time.

Can I give up mean, hateful people for Lent?

I work in HR, so probably not.

I gave up sugar once. That was hard. I also gave up cussing once. That was hard-er. But they were lame things because it wasn’t so much sacrificial as it was a challenge to see if I could do it. And as soon as Lent was over, I went back to my old ways.

Now that I have a better understanding of sacrifice, I would hope I’d not just give something up, but replace with with time or thoughts directed to God. Between this post and other’s on this same subject I read, next year, I will prayerfully consider if God is calling me to observe Lent.

Interesting—someone actually gave ME up (spending time, etc.) for lent. Seems a little weird to do that, don’t you think?

Well. Seeing as I am born again, and Saved, and dont have any need for MAN’S rules I dont have anything to do with lent. I often use it as a point to argue with really devout Catholics cause I like to argue sometimes.

Did you know that Abstinance goes hand in hand (pun intended) with Lent? Hey ladies, its a 40 days break..cause the Roman Catholic Church says so!

All kidding aside, the way I see it, honor God everyday of your life and give Him thanks and praise. Lent is like the catholics version of Valentines Day. People are extra nice and lively dovey and buy nice gifts and candy cause someone said that they should on that certain day. In my humble opinon (not really cause Im telling you) catholics do the same thing… pray once or twice more and skip McD’s for lunch on Fridays for 40 days or less.

Just read the Bible, seek forgiveness, strive for better, and honor God.

Blessings-
Amanda

You had me at Tar Heels. Please stop watching, if you think it will help the heels’ chances. Thanks in advance for taking one for the team.

I’m giving up all sodas and Gatorade as well as reading and thinking about three psalms every day (4 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays). I don’t do Lent like tradition says you should. I just want to subtract something from my life in order to remember God and Jesus’ sacrifice at those times and add something to my life to grow closer to Him.

I’m actually giving up TV for Lent. (why is Lent capitalized? Just a random thought….) TV and Facebook. I decided I wanted to give up things I escape to for mindless distraction from what I should be doing. It’s going pretty well… except for the fact that I got snowed in for two days. No Bueno.

I’m really hoping that doing this will give me a reminder on focusing on God, and stop mindlessly escaping life. I want to show myself how often I drone out and become worthless and lazy, when I could be getting a lot of stuff done.

So far…I’ve just been taking more naps. I’m determined to make the most of this though. I really want to prove to myself (and family) that TV is a black hole we all fall into in order to escape from reality. It is for me, anyway.

Next year, Jon. You’ll get it! I’ll let you know how it goes!

Why not pray and ask God what He wants you to give up? My wife and I tried this a few years ago, and what we ended up ‘giving up’ were pretty heavy: fear, not believing in God, anger… We were able to trade these with God and He replaced them with something much sweeter.
So ask God what to give to Him; he knows better than we do!

Gabrol, actually, except for no meat on Fridays during Lent, there is no rule saying that a Catholic must give anything up for Lent. But we are taught that we can draw closer to God by particpating. I was confessed tht I hadn’t given up anything for Lent, and the priest told me that that wasn’t a sin, but he did encourage me to pray and give to the poor more readily.Here are my thoughts on Lent.
Amanda, you have a point, but ideally that is not supposed to be the case. Does it happen, yes. But if I pray an extra 15 minutes every day during Lent, ideally I should have gained a habit. Will it lesson by five minutes eventually? Perhaps. But ideally we aren’t dropping God like a hot potato on Easter Sunday. That isn’t the purpose.
Anonymous @11:02, I gave up secular music one year. It was harder than I thought, because the grocery store plays secular music. How could I not hear it? I just had to use the opportuntiy to remind myself that while Christ’s sacrifice is perfect, my sacrifice, any sacrifice, couldn’t be, but that I could still give God what I have, even my imperfection.

If our conscience compells us to give something up, we should do it regardless of time or place (ex: Lent). Converseley, we should not allow ourselves to be forced to subscribe to behaviors and traditions Christ did not outline for us in scripture. True change of heart does not come at Lent, only legalistic guilt-trips that rob us of the full flavor of what it means to live uncondemned under the covering blood of Christ. If you enjoy entertaining shows and chocolate, and are not engaging against your conscience, then do it to God’s glory. God walked with Adam and Eve in the quiet of the Garden. He enjoys walking with you in every activity as long as you are not destroying your spirit or those of others. However, we are called to make sacrifices, and to fast and seek God in earnest. Let’s not confuse a made-up, reformation-era, clergy-controlled tradition such as Lent with the true conviction of the Holy Spirit when a person is brougth to their knees in shame and turn to Christ in repentance over some behavior. But if Lent serves as the catalist needed to help us reconsider how we spend our time, what we place as idols before us, and brings us closer to God, then I am all for it. I mean, afterall, if I just bash Lent then I become unloving and legalistic myself, right? Blessings…N8

I'm not Catholic, but I do give up something for Lent each year. This year, I gave up two things, both of which I intend to sacrifice in order to better my relationship with God.

One is direct – I gave up TV so I'll have that extra time to spend in His Word before going to bed. The other is indirect – I gave up sweets, so that when I get that craving, it will be a built-in alarm to remind me to pray and remember that He is more than enough & can satisfy all my desires.

I think it's good to exercise self-discipline, but I also think it's about your motivation. For me, it's about being intentional about the time I spend with God (giving up telly) and re-recognising how He should be the only thing that really satisfies me (giving up sweets).

I'd love to say that I am worshipful & praying 100% of the time, but it's not true. For me, particularly in periods of rest (no major issues going on), I tend to get lax in my total reliance on Him. Lent & sacrifice get me back into right relationship with Him.

We don’t “do Lent” anymore, but I went through a phase when I thought it would be cool for us Baptists to give something up for Lent. We gave up fast food once and it went well, but we got sick at our stomachs the first time we ate fast food after Lent. Guess that was a sign from God not to do Lent again. LOL!

I was taking a class in the spiritual disciplines this past fall, and one thing Richard Foster says about fasting in his book “Celebration of Discipline” really stuck with me. He says that if we do the fast but 1) either find other ways to satisfy the same urge some other way or 2) spend the entire time counting down the minutes until we can have the thing again, we haven’t learned the value of fasting or the value of that specific fast in our life.

When we are fasting from food and get angry because we’re hungry, we can’t blame it on the fast and say, “Hey, I’m just hungry because I haven’t eaten all day.” Instead, we find out that we have the spirit of anger in us and bring that to God and say, “Okay, what do you want to do with this? Obviously, I’ve got issues that bubble up as anger. Not having food today made that evident. Now what?” And then we enter into a conversation with God about our stuff.

That’s the value of the fast, according to RF.

I can pretty much say that I never thought about fasting that way. I usually fasted to get God to answer some prayer request I really wanted answered, not to learn anything about stuff in me that God wanted to tend to. That was pretty revelatory for me.

I say all that because your questions in #9 really hit that nail on the head. You’re so perceptive, Jon. I love the way you break it down in regular language for us average joes.

wv: comas. What happens when we fast from TV for 40 days and then gorge on Hulu episodes of The Office and 30 Rock for 19 hours straight the day after Easter. We end up in comas.

I like to take it easy for lent, so I give up things that will be easily attainable to me: cigarettes, booze, brussell sprouts. I have been observing lent in this fashion since high school, and I have yet to fail. God must be pleased.

I’m a knitting addict, and last year I gave up buying yarn for Lent. Of course, given the size of my yarn stash, one would think I would be easily successful. Of course, that meant it wasn’t a sacrifice. All that…and I STILL bought one ball of cotton yarn.

This whole post reminded me of my Catholic upbringing and no meat on Friday. What if I forgot it was Friday when I ordered a cheeseburger? What if someone else brought me a cheeseburger, not realizing that I wasn’t supposed to have meat? Was it more a sin to eat it, to waste it, or to hurt the feelings of the person who did something nice for me?

So, now I’ve opted to do affirmative kindnesses instead.

I’ve given up posting comments on blogs for Lent.

Chris Meirose
Because I said so blog

My ipod. I can no longer tune out the “talented” subway performers, the blaring sirens, the random strangers trying to sell stuff etc. It also means that on Sunday (When the lent sacrifices do not apply) I purposefully try to avoid members of my bible study (who live in my neighborhood) in the morning so I can listen to my ipod in peace for the 45 minute subway ride to church! In all seriousness, the lack of constant noise has caused me to pay attention to the poverty around me, and to the ways that God is working in my neighborhood and life.

UNC tarheels? really? i actually applied to UNC and find out if i got in in 17 days.
i too was planning on gicing up somehting like tv or facebook for lent. instead i’m making an effort to not waste time.

wv: winsoly
the name of an ancient oracle from greece.
“we need some advice, lets go ask winsoly”

Yes, I’ve decided to give up my virginity for Lent.

:0

just kidding

Funny! I gave up computer games for Lent and ask myself whether it counts when I help my preschoolers play a game or whether I can technically do puzzles like Sodoku online.

I guess it’s easy to miss the point by focusing on technicalities.

I gave up alcohol for Lent, not that I’m a raging alcoholic, but hey, going out with the boys for a beer is one of the things I do often enough that this will actually test me a little.

I gave up the same thing I give up every year:
Watching the WNBA and Women’s NCAA Basketball…

Christian answer guy, this is our second year to observe Lent at my crib. It feels cool this year for two reasons, 1)no one else is doing it in my church because the preacher didn’t tell them to, so that makes me hot stuff 2)everytime I want something sweet (gave up sugar), I thank Jesus for his sacrifice for me.

Lark was the first person to mention that Lent is in fact 47 days. We are taught that you do not fast on a feast day. So yes, Sundays are a pass. If you gave up coffee for Lent, you can bring your cup to church and enjoy it guilt-free. (#231. Drinking coffee in church.)

I grew up in the Lutheran faith. I’ve changed affiliations since then, but since I moved overseas I haven’t given up anything for Lent. I feel like I’ve given up so much of what I enjoy already by living in less than first-world countries that I don’t need to give up the things that I can have and do enjoy. However, I should focus more on including God in my everyday life, but that’s one discipline I’ve never been good at. It also doesn’t help when there’s not English-language services around.

I love Kirsten McKeown’s comments… don’t be legalistic. After all, Jesus did die to save us from that. We sacrifice to show our appreciation of the ultimate sacrifice.

That’s just my two cents on it all.

wv: cheat: what we all do when we get the chance. We’re human, sometimes we don’t even know we’re doing it.

It wasn’t necessarily “Lent”, but I did give up video games for 40 days while I read “A Call to Die” by David Nasser. That was not just playing, but my Game Informer magazine and watching G4 as well. I just replaced that time with time with God (prayer, bible study, etc..) I HIGHLY recommend the book. It is very intense and takes some will to do it daily, but well worth it. I live in a Catholic community, so the Lent thing is big. I purposefully eat meats on Fridays with some of my Catholic friends just for fun.

I actually was planning on giving up alcohol for Lent, I don’t drink much but I do enjoy a good beer every now and then. However, I quickly realized that my wife and I are going to Ireland for vacation in March, over St. Patrick’s Day, and going to Ireland and NOT drinking Guinness seems even more offensive to God than just not giving up anything for Lent.

Since I was about 6 or 7 years old, I’ve given up something for Lent most years. Usually I don’t make a big deal about it, I just do it. I choose something that will be hard for me to give up–TV, buying books, soda, sugar. When I find myself wishing for the thing I have given up and being tempted, I use that as an opportunity to praise God for the gift of His Son and repent of my sins. I also try, during Lent, to add an extra time for prayer and devotions to my day, and go to worship on Wednesdays as well as Sundays.

I gave up Catholicism for Lent.
Actually, I was never Catholic, so it’s a pretty fair trade-off.

I think the idea of giving up ANYTHING for Lent is inane. I think if you’re going to fast and pray, fast and pray. Don’t do it every year at a particular point just because some institutionalized church or denomination instilled that in you at a younger age. That’s like paying a special fee to pray for someone’s soul after they’ve died. It’s ridiculous, and it almost makes a mockery out of the whole concept of fasting.

i know this comment is way past due, but i thought i’d share anyway. for lent this year, i gave up my time. i’ve noticed that in the past, i’ve given up something like a game, or a candy or something simple like that, even tv at some point, but then in the end, i just filled it with some other worthless junk. which made the whole exercise void. so this year i decided i’ll purposely give up an hour of my time every day to God. whether its reading my bible, memorizing verses, singing praises, praying for the people around me, listening to sermons, anything, as long as i focus on Him, b/c after all, whats the point of lent if its not to remind us of Christ’s upcoming death and resurrection?

Coffee…my beloved coffee.
At least that’s easier to stick to than giving up TV.
Unless you count coffee candy.
Or coffee cake.

Yikes! It’s not as cut and dry!

This year I gave up all books that were not Christian nonfiction books. I usually say I’m going to give something up, but never do. I did miss ash Wednesday so, do i need to tack on a couple days at the end?

By the way, I am fully aware that this post was posted a while ago, I just felt like replying.

hannah

this is my first year to do lent. i’m giving up cokes because my body is totally addicted to caffeine. so far, each monday, i’ve had a migraine as i go through “withdrawal” again. no joke.

it’s been…interesting. i’m trying to figure out the right balance between experiencing the physical suffering, and focusing on what Christ did on the cross. it can be hard to do both, and i think the purpose of lent has been misunderstood…it’s not to give something up, or just to experience some kind of physical suffering. i think the focus has been on the “giving stuff up” part, and not enough focus on Christ.

but it’s my first lent, so i’m not sure how it really works yet.

i didn’t consider giving up tv, because i didn’t consider myself addicted to it. but now that you’ve mentioned march madness…i’m super glad that’s not what i gave up…

“We gave up fast food once and it went well, but we got sick at our stomachs the first time we ate fast food after Lent. Guess that was a sign from God not to do Lent again. LOL!”

I’d say it’s a sign from God not to eat fast food anymore…

Also don’t forget the wonderful thing of no meat on Friday other than fish.

As a Catholic who married an Independent Bible Baptist the concept of Lent didn’t go over well in our household. The only thing I could get the husband to agree too was the no meat.

haha I gave up the computer for lent and so I didn’t read this till just now, i am going back to read all the posts I missed!

I gave up "that's what she said" and other sexual innuendo one year. Because the bounds of what 'giving up sexual innuendo' mean are kind of blurry and thus bad for a neurotic like myself, I set the bounds at "making innuendo or intentionally giving someone else the opportunity for innuendo." I was pretty legalistic about it, not least because for every violation of the sacrifice that wasn't on Sunday (not counting for Lent? Then it's not counting as a sacrifice day), anyway, for all violations I had to give $2 to a service trip group going to Nicaragua.

I screwed up at -least- 35 times. Just to be safe I paid $80. The Nicaragua trip people were pretty happy about it, though.

This year I might try it, but actually, you know, do better at it.