For Christians the season of Lent is one of fasting, prayer and penance. It recalls the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert prior to the beginning of his public ministry – the time when he was tempted, felt the pangs of hunger and thirst. Lent is also a review of the events of the Passion, observers walk with Jesus from Judas’ agreeing to betray Jesus, to the upper room with the twelve, to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus’ arrest, trial, Peter’s denial of him, the bellowing voices of the accusers “crucify him!”, his flogging, mocking remarks, crucifixion, death and burial.
Today is Ash Wednesday and as I was preparing to enter this Lenten season I began reflecting on ‘Last Lent’. As part of the Christian Ethics course I was enrolled in Spring of 2010 we were required to complete a ‘Lenten Discipline’. I’m a nerd, so I still have the syllabus. The assignment was to:
“Choose a discipline that you will take up over the season of Lent. In a paragraph, describe the parameters of how you will practice this discipline throughout the season.”
Later we were required to:
“Reflect on your Lenten Discipline. In your reflection, include the paragraph you submitted previously and answer the following questions: What habit(s) were you hoping to cultivate? Toward the end of what virtue? How would you connect your discipline with the season of Lent? How does this take shape in the season of Easter or what was your experience of Easter in light of your discipline? What did you learn? Why is the liturgical season important for Christian Ethics, or not? (Note: Your instructor thinks it is very important!) Guidelines: 1000-1200 words.”
I haven’t done this before on this blog…but I’m wondering if anyone would be willing to take this assignment as a challenge and walk alongside me in this season of Lent. Maybe you could post your initial paragraph as a comment or send it to my email?
