Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Preparation: Lent 2016
I do enjoy having a blog that absolutely nobody reads - it's like a journal. I've been keeping this one since my first Lenten fast in 2011, the 6 weeks that completely transformed my life. It was my first experience with the Daniel Fast, which brought about my transition to truly perfect health, and my first awakening to the meaning of Easter. I have not been the same in body or spirit since then.
I haven't ever been able to replicate that first Lenten experience, but I haven't needed to because the result of the first time has not wavered for me in the least. But fasting always has something to offer, I think, and I am excited to see what it will be this year.
As I wrote on this blog a few years ago, Lenten fasting is about placing Easter at the center of your daily life. We fast to shift our focus from the day-to-day needs that overcome us to the miracle of Christ. We properly order our pleasure and our restraint and live in peace with our bodies and our selves. What a joy.
Because I am now way more Anglican than I have been in years past, I am excited to go through this Lent with the Episcopal church in Koreatown. I think it'll be lots of fun.
From the Ash Wednesday liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer:
"I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer."
I haven't ever been able to replicate that first Lenten experience, but I haven't needed to because the result of the first time has not wavered for me in the least. But fasting always has something to offer, I think, and I am excited to see what it will be this year.
As I wrote on this blog a few years ago, Lenten fasting is about placing Easter at the center of your daily life. We fast to shift our focus from the day-to-day needs that overcome us to the miracle of Christ. We properly order our pleasure and our restraint and live in peace with our bodies and our selves. What a joy.
Because I am now way more Anglican than I have been in years past, I am excited to go through this Lent with the Episcopal church in Koreatown. I think it'll be lots of fun.
From the Ash Wednesday liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer:
"I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)