Blogging for Lent

Today, Ash Wednesday, marks the beginning of Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter, which has traditionally been a time of fasting and penitence for the church. 

Growing up, I often gave something up for Lent -- like television, or candy.  One year, in divinity school, I gave up all refined sugar.  There were times when those sacrifices made me more mindful of God -- but I would have to say that for the most part it just provided an extra incentive to do something healthy (and usually food-related).

In college, I wrote my honors thesis on sacrifice in Hebrews, one of the lesser-read New Testament epistles.  The big insight I had from my research was that sacrifice in the ancient world was worship, for both Jews and "pagans" in the cultural milieu where Christianity was born.  So, the point of sacrifice was to draw near to God. 

My Lenten discipline this season will be to attempt to draw near to God daily, and to provide reflections on this blog that might help others to do the same.  It seems to me that the point of fasting, or any spiritual discipline, is to better attune ourselves to notice the signs of God's presence in the world, and where God might be leading us.

PS -- I will also be posting here. Once I figure it out, it will work automatically... but I haven’t quite worked out the kinks yet.