What is Lent?
Well, it's that time of year again. Lent. But what is Lent? What does it all mean?
My sister has recently become a youth leader at her church so she's shaping and molding young minds. I love my sister to death but I never figured that she'd be a youth leader. I always figured I would be the one that ended up in that role. Not that she's incapable of leadership, but she doesn't like kids. Maybe she's changed in recent years, but anyway. She was at a church service this week and one of the younger kids sat down at a table with her and one of the church elders and said "What is Lent?" They looked at him and the other lady asked my sister to take it. So she started explaining that Lent was different in different religions and looked at different ways, but in our religion it represents the time Jesus spent in the desert fasting, so giving up something for Lent is really supposed to be a sacrifice. She went on and told him that in college her roommate gave up Cokes and I have a friend that gives up chocolate every year. I usually give my friend a hard time because Jesus gave up food and was tempted by Satan, and he gives up chocolate and is tempted by a Snickers bar. I guess it's a sacrifice none the less. So my sister is thinking to herself what a great job she's doing explaining this to the kid and is just all kinds of tickled about it. She gets done and says "Do you have any other questions?" So he sits for a second and says "Where does the preacher keep the stuff?" Confused they both say "What stuff?" The kid looks at them very seriously and says "All the stuff that everybody gives up. Where do we keep it? What room does it go in? Who keeps the key to it? I want to see all this stuff that everyone gives up." At this point I think my sister passed the torch on this one.
At any rate, if you celebrate Lent or not, remember that in all religions it's a time of sacrifice and reflection. If you do give up something, I hope you make it through. If you don't, I hope you enjoy Lent, Easter, or whatever this time of year means to you. Have a wonderful weekend, and enjoy the Oscars. We'll see you again on Monday for an Oscar run down and the usual Monday movie reviews.
My sister has recently become a youth leader at her church so she's shaping and molding young minds. I love my sister to death but I never figured that she'd be a youth leader. I always figured I would be the one that ended up in that role. Not that she's incapable of leadership, but she doesn't like kids. Maybe she's changed in recent years, but anyway. She was at a church service this week and one of the younger kids sat down at a table with her and one of the church elders and said "What is Lent?" They looked at him and the other lady asked my sister to take it. So she started explaining that Lent was different in different religions and looked at different ways, but in our religion it represents the time Jesus spent in the desert fasting, so giving up something for Lent is really supposed to be a sacrifice. She went on and told him that in college her roommate gave up Cokes and I have a friend that gives up chocolate every year. I usually give my friend a hard time because Jesus gave up food and was tempted by Satan, and he gives up chocolate and is tempted by a Snickers bar. I guess it's a sacrifice none the less. So my sister is thinking to herself what a great job she's doing explaining this to the kid and is just all kinds of tickled about it. She gets done and says "Do you have any other questions?" So he sits for a second and says "Where does the preacher keep the stuff?" Confused they both say "What stuff?" The kid looks at them very seriously and says "All the stuff that everybody gives up. Where do we keep it? What room does it go in? Who keeps the key to it? I want to see all this stuff that everyone gives up." At this point I think my sister passed the torch on this one.
At any rate, if you celebrate Lent or not, remember that in all religions it's a time of sacrifice and reflection. If you do give up something, I hope you make it through. If you don't, I hope you enjoy Lent, Easter, or whatever this time of year means to you. Have a wonderful weekend, and enjoy the Oscars. We'll see you again on Monday for an Oscar run down and the usual Monday movie reviews.
5 Comments:
Chas - I guess making sacrifices is more prominent in the Catholic religion than in Protestant religions. I don't know what religion you are, but as a Methodist we were always told we could but it never seemed like a requirement like it has been to the Jennifers we know.