What are you giving up for Lent
 

OK. So today is the first day of Lent

LENT EXPLAINED HERE

Traditionally, Lent is a time of fasting or giving up certain foods and or activities in preparation for Easter.

I know some of you are rolling your eyes... yea Gods, more religion.

In my house we have adopted (and adapted) this tradition. We use it as a time to reflect on the things we have. We give up something (chocolate, movies, videogames, etc.) for the time of Lent. The idea is that everytime you go to reach for or do the activity you have given up it reminds you of why you are grateful for it in the first place. It reminds you that many are not quite so fortunate as to have things they can "give up."

I'm going to give up coffee.

What are you going to give up?

i don't even know where to start.

alcohol, tobacco, junk food, internet, etc... i don't know, maybe i'll have to flip a few coins to pick one.

I'm giving up all but one hour of tv per week... and online Scrabble :(. That oughta teach me.

Not having been brought up catholic, this isnt anything I ever participated in and all I know about it is that it runs 40 days (not counting sundays, cause you can do/have whatever you're giving up on that one day a week...which makes no sense to me).

I could give up Dr Pepper for that time I suppose

I grew up in a staunchly Roman Catholic home where Lent, Good Friday etc were observed as a rule of respect towards that religion and leniency and good thanks were guilted upon us.

Now that I'm grown up I have redefined those rules to suit me and others. So we endorse debauchery of sorts to the opposite of giving something up. Tonight it is Alaskan King Crab legs. Good Friday may be a rib roast or something fishy like lobster.

This is a good post Charlatan and I'm not trying to ruin it by being adverse or ignorant. I give up alot of my time volunteering for several organizations in the name of ME and well, giving something up in the name of religion,...been there done that,...when I had to. OK, I'll give up one!!! Sex. NOT

I'm giving up sugar--well, excess sugar, and specifically high fructose corn syrup (as much as humanly possible, as they do try and stick it into everything around these parts, even bread). I have some diet soda and Splenda in case I need it (sugar junkie here) but I'm trying to limit even my use of that.

I always try to pick something really hard. One year I gave up meat.

Shani, as for being able to enjoy your sacrifice on Sundays, I usually don't do that. Otherwise I'm too tempted to just not continue come Monday. The idea behind being able to enjoy it on Sunday is that it reminds you how tough it is to sacrifice on a weekly basis, and it reminds Christians of the sacrifice Jesus made on the Cross.

I also hold up the rules of fasting and actually attend church during Lent...craziness, I know. But Lent is one of my favorite times of year--I see it as a time to refocus, rechannel my energies, and cleanse myself spiritually through sacrifice, prayer, and charity. I think it is a time that everyone could use--Christian or not. Occasionally we need to be reminded that what we have today could be gone tomorrow, and we also need to be reminded to slow down and take time out. We need to be reminded that there are other people in the world besides us, and some of them need our help.

Snowy... that is sort of what I am suggesting, only in a secular sense of the word.

OMG!! Have I just started a War on Lent? :lol:

Now everybody will be wishing each other Happy Give-up-somethingness. Alert John Gibson.

This is one of my favorite times of year too for the reasons onesnowyowl gives. Also, during lent, our church had a service every wednesday followed by a soup and sandwich lunch. Since this used to be the most stressfull time of year at my previous job, taking time to go to that was like a year of therapy. Now that we've moved, I will sorely miss that. So, every day during lent, I will take time to meditate at noon, and have a very simple lunch. No going out for lunch.

Well, I'm not Catholic, so I don't observe Lent. I probably wouldn't even if I was Catholic, for several reasons..

Hopefully a lot of people will give up driving for Lent, so traffic won't be as bad for me :D

you can't give up online scrabble SC! who will i play with? :p

sweetpea

Sodium in my diet.

Because, well, I have high blood pressure.

I'm giving up scotch. I only have one a week, but is my reward to myself. I have a fine collection of scotch and the better reward the better the scotch. So in my way I'm giving up alot, especially since I'm not catholic.

I've decided to give up caffeine for lent.

my old self....

Lent is one of the few things that I carry over from my Catholic upbringing.

I'll be giving up tea and soft drinks, and won't be taking any caffeine pills to replace the missing caffeine. Today was hell, which is, I suppose, the point. I'll be observing Sunday days off so that I can have a tea ceremony with Grace, which is a part of her religion.

Gilda

I kinda think it was funny. As a kid we followed the rules (no meat on Fridays), which meant Fish and Chips for dinner. Sounds like a treat to me - not fasting...

Being non-religious now, I hadn't really thought about it and I reckon that just being alive requires some sacrifice...so I'm not giving up anything.

Masturbation seems like a good one. I bet it will be <i>hard</i> though.

For Lent I'm giving up trying to give things up for Lent.

Everytime I force myself to give things up for specific occasions (Lent, New Year's Resolutions, etc.) it never works. I manage to buckle down, grind through a week or so and then just take up the 'habit' again. It's just a week of me being horrifically cranky and it doesn't seem to do me a bit of good.

I think I'm just going to stick to my program of moderation. Keep the sugar, but in moderation. Keep the salt, but in moderation. You get the idea.

FWIW, this past New Year's I decided to give up coffee for a while. Two weeks later, I came to work and a hot cup of coffee was sitting at my desk along with a small note that said "Please drink" that was signed by all my co-workers.

LOL

That is some funny stuff :)

I also think it's better to just do everything in moderation for the entire year than to give something up for one month.

I've given up being unnecessarily nice to people. So far it's paying dividends.

I caught myself going for the TV so many times today... I'm glad I decided to ditch it for Lent this year - I definitely needed the perspective.

As somebody pointed out, Lent is mainly about reflection. From my point, that means giving up something only insofar that it gets in the way of reflection, or if giving it up will give you more time or inclination to reflect. I'm unemployed, so I need no extra time. I reflect -a lot.-

One way to reflect is through action, though, and the wife and I will be making and serving dinner to some homeless folks as part of a local volunteer program. There'll be time to sit and talk. And I have no doubt I'll have a lot to reflect upon afterwards.

Another way to observe Lent is to try on focus on something and make an improvement in your life. I am going to TRY (I probably won't fully succeed) and give up being grouchy. Sheesh, knowing what meetings I have scheduled in the next 2 weeks, I doubt I will even make it through tomorrow. But then I will try again.

You know, I never used to give anything up for lent, probably since about 3rd or 4th grade, but I did again for the first time two years ago. I realized that there *IS* a purpose, but that it, unfortunately, is never really communicated, or communicated well.

Really, I think the idea of giving something up for lent has a very Buddhist flavor to it, in that it involves material self-denial. I don't buy the idea of drawing parallels between giving something up and the suffering of Jesus or any of that stuff. Nor do I buy into the whole fish thing. I see lent as an exercise in moving beyond corporeal attachments so as to find the joy in freeing ourselves from such restrictive addictions. That is not to say, of course, that physical pleasures are bad, but only that they can be inhibitive if we allow them to be. They can blind us to the greater pleasures of existence. And, thus, I decided to begin this extended exercise of giving something up for lent again last year.

When I started again two years ago, I gave up caffeine and carbonated beverages (so as to cover the loopholes) quite successfully. I think I'm going to do the same this time.

This is going to be hard,

but i'm giving up sobriety, moderation, and abstinence :)

SecretMethod... this is what I am trying to get at by proposing that this become a more secular practice as well.

Good post.

Charlatan...I was thinking about your post last night while I was in the shower, and it crossed my mind that one of the reasons why, perhaps, that this practice should be more mainstream/secular/what-have-you, is because we don't know how to do without. We, as a generation, have NEVER had to sacrifice. Our parents' generation had to sacrifice their friends and brothers (Vietnam) and our grandparents' generation had to sacrifice people as well as goods (WWII). If your grandparent was born in the 1920s, then they are all too familiar with the struggle that was the Great Depression. Personally, my grandparents lived through hard times during World War II, including near-starvation. Have I ever faced that kind of hardship? No. So whether you look at it as sacrifice, doing without, or self-denial--I think in the larger picture I hope it helps us realize just how lucky we are to live now versus then.

Very good point, Owl. I must say I haven't practiced Lent in a few years, but I always respect those who do... it's hard to give up luxuries, period. But I think it definiteiy makes one more aware of how consuming we are, and how our spirits suffer from the overflow of self-pleasing in our lives.

When I was into it, I would give up food things (cheese one year, desserts/sweets another, etc), but for a couple of years I did give up masturbation. Someone mentioned that above... but yeah, it was when I was single, and it was pretty damn tough. I think I indulged on Sundays one year because I just couldn't stand it! :)

tfp

see ya.......

I'm not religious-- but I think it's fun to challenge myself, and since my boyfriend is Catholic, this time of the year works well. I'm giving up all dairy and eggs and attempting a completely vegan diet. Also I'm not eating peanut butter and saltine crackers because I eat those two things entirely too much.

How exactly do you think caffeine is blinding me to the 'greater pleasures of existence?' I'm not being a smartass...I honestly can't see where you're coming from.

Lent and other holidays of the same vein, are splendid times, I think, to examine one's life and reflect upon the past year. I think that's great. Everyone should do a little introspective house cleaning every once in a while. What I don't understand is the self-denial. Why do it? What is it's purpose? To show mastery over sweets or nicotine? To show mastery over one's body?
Self-loathing wrapped up in psuedo-mysticism? Would somebody like to explain it to me, please?

I've never given up anything for lent. To be honest, I only learned what Lent was in grade twelve. My religious education has been limited to literature, movies, and over the past year or so a bit more in depth study.

So...

What's the "fish thing" smeth?

Back when I was a kid.. during Lent, no meat (or chicken) was to be eaten - and Fridays were fish days 9to this day, I cannot stand tuna casserole or fillet of flounder - it was the friday meal of choice of a working mom who was a bad cook :)

The one exception to it (And I swear my mother made this up, but I've heard it from other people as well)- was if St Patty's Day fell during Lent, then an exceptioon was granted and corned beef was allowed (as well as beer for those who chose to give up booze for Lent)

These days, i think it's just Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are meat free days...

All Fridays are technically meat-free days for Catholics. How many follow this, I don't know. I do remember that the cafeterias at Notre Dame didn't serve meat on Fridays during Lent.

Thank you Mal and asaris!

I did at one point in time remember that Fridays were fish only days, but I must have forgotten. Hopefully I'll keep that in my brain this time.

All fridays being meat free was changed after vatican ii - if I remember correctly -

it always amuses me that during lent - mc donalds has front and center on ther menu again the fish sandwich...

It's a tradition that still lingers subtly around in that most restaurants offer clam chowder as their Friday soup selection.

I only know about fish fridays because it was referenced on M*A*S*H all the time.

going to a public school fish was always served on fridays all year long.

Also cafeteria's and such at my workplaces, as well as in the military fish was just a regular thing on the menu for Friday.

so much for seperation of church and state.

i whole-heartedly believe in moderation and moderating the moderation. times of lent and the new year i like to indulge 100 fold...to remember that we need to go full bore once in a while.....

never occurred to me that lent was even a major religious holiday until 2 yrs ago when i was in NYC and saw people walking around wtih ash crosses o ntheir heads. My friend and i thought something was really odd and it wasn't until days later that i figured out it was Lent and mostly catholics were celebrating..

Just shows how few catholics there are in the south...

(my town: 315 churches, 1 catholic)

You don't have to be a catholic to appreciate lent. I'm Church of England, which is Christian and we celebrate lent. I haven't given up anything for lent, or ever have (but i'm not a religious man in general) but after reading Charlatan's intro regarding appreciating those things that you may take for granted, I'm touched and will definately give up one of those things next year. (Too late now of course, or maybe I have no will power right now).

My best friend is giving up alcohol and, believe me, he is a big drinker - but also knows the true meaning of lent.

isn't COE a direct offshoot of catholicism, though.

My teenager asked me to give up fighting with my ex. I'm such an asshole.

Absolutely nothing.

It's funny you should mention this. The first time I ever saw anyone with ash on their forehead was after I moved to the South after having lived in Utah my whole life. I asked my coworkers why everyone had dots on their heads and it was all explained to me. Yesterday was the first time I've ever seen a Utahn with ash. EVER.

As for me, I've never given anything up for Lent. I can see the benefit even though I'm not religious, but I'm not giving anything up this year. Perhaps next year.

Technically all Christians are offshoots from Catholicism.

The Church of England actually is a catholic church (just not Roman Catholic).

Being Orthodox the Great Lent Fast has more strict rules: all meats, including fish, eggs, dairy, oil, and wine, with a few exceptions (example: http://www.goarch.org/en/Chapel/calendar.asp?Y=2006&M=3) That's plenty for me, thank you very much :D

I disagree. I have been taught and believe that Catholicism and Protestantism are both offshoots of early Christianity but the story is told differently both either of those paths.


As for what I'm giving up. I haven't ever considered giving things up in favor of this time.
I understand some of the ideas behind doing it but I have had so much religion stuff down my throat that I choke on the idea of doing another religious rite or tradition. It all seems so hollow and so many religious people do it like sheep that it's abhorrrant to follow the flock of them.

raeanna is most likely correct on the "offshoots" issue.

I gave up: Chocolate, Coffee, Caffeine, Soft drinks, Alcohol, talking about people behind their backs (which always made me uncomfortable to do in the first place) and not having so many negative thoughts.

The last two days were rather difficult, but I have slept better at night, but have less energy half way through the day while at work. I may give up all of these things for more than 40 days because do we really need any of it?

Not necessarily but generally correct. Anglican churches have the option of being in communion with the Vatican, but it isn't necessarily so (see the section on Anglicans within the Roman rite here). Nonetheless, you make an important point that most people are not aware of. Roman Catholicism is only the largest rite within Catholicism. Catholicism as a whole has different rites which fall under the vatican, including some eastern rites which allow priests to be married (since it is not a theological decision of the Catholic Church but an administrative one, and the main point of these different rites, since they've rejoined the Catholic Church as a whole, is that they believe in different administrative practices).
Indeed, neither Catholicism or Protestantism is what early Christianity was, but that doesn't make anything necessarily better or worse (and I'm not saying you said it did, but some people think that way :)). Personally, the idea of seeking some "pure" Christianity is pretty silly to me. There is a lot to learn from how Christianity was first perceived, and there's a lot to learn from our modern situation as well. One of my religious studies professors had a very interesting phrase he used: "changing to preserve the changeless"....meaning sometimes you need to let go of traditions and beliefs to maintain the relevancy of the core meaning of the religion in the modern era. Or, in the case of lent, you need to reevaluate it and what purpose it has, hence why I don't identify it with "suffering with Jesus" or any sort of symbolism ("Jesus was a 'fisherman' so we eat fish on Fridays") but with a more Buddhist-like approach: an exercise in rejecting the material world. Especially seeing as how materialism is the most relevant vice in western society today, most especially within the consumer culture of America.
I understand what you're getting at. But does the fact many people are sheep and don't think about what they're doing necessarily mean what they're doing is wrong? The biggest reason I have had problems with the practice of lent in the past is because it seemed to me there was nothing to be gotten out of it. For the most part, I was right. People give something up because they're "supposed to" and to "suffer with Jesus" and all that crap...and in the end it means nothing. Most of us are so distant from any real suffering that we have no idea what it means, and to equate giving up TV or something like that with being a martyr is just ridiculous, and deep down inside we all know that. Sure, it can serve as a reminder of Jesus and his message for 40 days, but 1) I don't think it lasts as a reminder for 40 days for most people and 2) I don't think the awareness it creates lasts beyond that 40 days. Worse yet, blindly doing something because you're told it's what you're supposed to do at this time of year is simply pointless. But, using TV as an example, the fact it is so difficult to ween ourselves away from it is a testament to the fact we each have our own many material "addictions." Reminding ourselves of this, and challenging ourselves to take a little focus off of these things and place it elsewhere in our lives *is* a benefit, and the awareness it creates can last well beyond the 40 days of lent. So, yes, I honestly think lent is pretty meaningless for most people who practice it, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that means the practice itself has no meaning. It's all in how you choose to experience and interpret it.

Try more water and fiber in your diet...should help.

What I was getting at was that the Catholic Church, while Protestantism makes a different practice of Christianity, broke away from the Catholic tradition in the 16th century.

I was not accounting for Oriental Orthodoxy or Nestorians as I didn't think to take them into account.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...an-lineage.png

That's why I mentioned it in the first post. What I am after here is more of a secularization of Lent, much in the same way Christmas has been embraced by one and all. I'd like it to be a traditional time of reflection on material things (as Secret suggests) but also a time of reflection (by extension) on those who go without.

I don't think we do enough longer term type reflections in our increasingly secualrized lives (heck, even those who claim to be religious could use more reflection).

I was chatting with a muslim friend about Ramadan and the fasting they do and it occured to me that Lent is a similar tradition (much overlooked). When he spoke of what Ramadan meant to him I began to wonder if there wasn't some way to introduce this (longer term) time of reflection to everyone. Call it suffering if you like but I like to see it as doing without something that you take for granted (TV, coffee, chocolate, etc.). It is my thought that everytime you go to reach for it, and if you are willful enough to resist it, you will take that moment to reflect. Enough little moments and it adds up to a greater realization of the place of material posessions in your life.

It made sense to me when I thought it up. This is about a "spiritual" as I get folks.

I'm starting late. I realized that at this time, I do need to be very clear headed and un-muddled in any thought process that goes on. So I am giving up alcohol, except for wine on Sundays, I’m giving up sitting on my butt to pass the time, I ‘m adding walking trips to Old Town once a week, and I’m giving up snacks except for fruit or vegetable, and I will try to see if I can fit yoga into my schedule, which is something I’ve wanted to do for some time now.

I thought about giving up caffeine, but I don’t really use it that much to begin with.

I'm giving up giving things up for lent. To bring my own burden to this thread, I also forsake the act of giving something up because it could be gone tomorrow. If God Himself has granted mankind the joys we receieve on a daily basis, then denying them when you could literally lose them the very next day almost seems sacreligious. I'm being a bit of a devil's advocate here since I am not Catholic (or even Christian anymore, truly).

I suggest instead of denying yourself something for 40 days a year to remember to be thankful, that you'd get more from being thankful daily for things like:

a) Not being deployed in Iraq (if you're a soldier)
b) Not being "that poor person" on the news each night
c) Not losing you child(ren), if you have any, on a daily basis.

Life isn't about giving things up, it's about having the things and people around you that fulfill you and help you get through every day being a good person. *shrug*

< /soapbox >

I'm going to give up eating Norwegians.

Sometimes we lose sight of those particular goals. I don’t think it’s required to give up anything that brings you joy. I think it’s a good time to re-examine some of those things which a person might cling to, even if it’s an unhealthy habit, practice, or relationship.

Another reason for participating in lent is that a person doesn’t really know how that poor guy on the news feels unless that person has suffered. The Buddhist and early Christian practice of fasting is a way to encumber empathy for those who are suffering, and hopefully be able to understand the best way to help them.