For those who may not be aware, we are currently in the season of Lent. Lent is a solemn religious observance in the Christian liturgical calendar that begins with Ash Wednesday and lasts about six weeks. Lent concludes with the celebration of Easter, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Church services during Lent tend to be dreary with depressing music about death and sacrifice as it is a build up to what Christ endured on Good Friday (the crucifixion). Many Christians give up something for Lent, make their own sacrifice in honor of the great sacrifice God made for us through Christ.
I’ve never been one to practice this tradition as it’s not any kind of requirement in the Lutheran faith. I have given it some thought over the years and I can’t seem to come up with something worthy of sacrifice. My salvation has already come through the cross, I am saved by grace so what’s the point of giving something up? Still, there’s something about a daily reminder though sacrifice during the season of Lent that intrigues me.
About a week into Lent it occurred to me that I had abstained from drinking soda. I wasn’t planning on cutting soda out of my diet completely just scaling back my intake of it. Perhaps I could give up soda for Lent as my sacrifice. As I considered this, I felt it wasn’t actually much of a sacrifice on my part. While soda sure tastes good, it certainly isn’t good for me. It has no nutritional value whatsoever so what kind of sacrifice is it to give up something I shouldn’t really have in the first place?
Something new I’ve heard this year as an alternative to giving something up is to take something up. That something could be community service, outreach, giving money to causes, or some other positive change. This to me is far more inspiring than a simple sacrifice. This concept also provides an opportunity to look at my soda deprivation not as a sacrifice but as taking up healthier options during the season of Lent. Taking better care of myself is a way I can honor God.
Jesus not only gave up his human life on Earth, he took up the cross for all sin. The least I can do during the season of Lent is make a daily acknowledgment of that. I look forward to celebrating Easter…with a Coke!
End Transmission
I really don’t like talking about gun control, the second amendment, and mass shootings. It’s never an easy conversation and most of the time I feel like both sides aren’t listening to the other and are just waiting for their turn to shout. Gun control is not a ban on firearms. Restricting access to weapons designed for the expeditious termination of human life seems reasonable in a civilized society. There is a balancing act between public safety and the rights guaranteed in the constitution. We have the freedom to speak in the United States but we can’t falsely call out fire in a crowded theater. To do so would be a clear and present danger that would bring about substantive evil our laws are in place to protect against. This particular issue was parsed out by the Supreme Court; we found a balance between free speech and malicious speech.