Categories: faith
Date: 20 February 2007 12:46:45
It would be a bit like a Christian taking part in the Ramadan fast. The cycle of the year follows a rhythm of feast and fast, joy and sorrow, the darkness of the Tenebrae service, followed by the blazing light of the New Fire at Easter.
If you only do one, but ignore the other, you are, in my not at all humble opinion (I probably need to work on that), missing out. (Gorging on chocolate on Easter Sunday doesn't count).
It's a sign of how deep the Judeo-Christian roots of this country are that people who would normally never darken the door of a church, apart from maybe weddings and funerals, use the period of Lent to give something up, whether that is chocolate, alcohol, or whatever, but I do wonder why they do it - the idea of a Christian fast or period of abstention is to grow in holiness, and to deepen their relationship with God, but if you don't have that relationship with God, you might as well just go on a diet.
I think it's also a sign that human beings recognise the need for a period of self-denial - the period of fasting followed by feasting seems to be common to many cultures and religions, and as a predominantly Christian (or post-Christian) society, Lent is the period of fasting that most people, however not-Christian their roots are, recognise.
I can pray that their fasting plants a seed of curiosity about God, which will grow and flower through the forty days. And I think it is also a call for us, as Christians, to use Lent as a time to answer people's curiosity about our faith - "why are you going through this period of fasting and abstention?" "because then I will have a deeper, clearer joy at Easter."
("Fast" = abstaining from food. "Abstention" = giving up TV, internet, etc).
My new favourite word appears to be "joy." It's a bit of a worry.