The real significance of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday is about rebirth.
Having Valentine's Day at the very start of Lent this year can be about more than just us feeling guilty about indulging during Lent, it can remind us that sacrificing ourselves for the sake of love is the greatest sacrifice of all.
(This article was published in "The Louisiana Weekly" in the Feb. 18, 2013 edition.) Seafood sales rise in the more than forty days from Ash Wednesd...
I appreciated the dirtiness of our Ash Wednesday retreat, and by dirtiness I mean the reminder that the soil, the ground, and the earth that is the very foundation of our bodily existence is something that we must not lose touch with.
Lent is an opportunity to right-size our personal commitments and realign our priorities. We loosen our attachment to even seemingly innocuous or good things that hinder our spiritual growth because they consume a disproportionate amount of focus, energy or time.
Many queer people walk away from the only kind of church they ever know, and they never look back. But Joey, with his boldness to integrate the faith of his childhood and the sexuality with which God has blessed him, has forever reframed Lent for me.
Many people think of Lent in terms of giving up indulgences such as chocolate or wine. What I'd like to give up this season is being hard on myself.
While the stores start stocking plastic eggs and Easter baskets, we do something on Ash Wednesday that is completely counter-cultural: We go to church, smear ashes on our foreheads and remind one another that everything we know is only temporary. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
Christians around the world observe Ash Wednesday today marking the first day of Lent, a period of fasting, prayer and repentance based on the 40 days...
The beginning of our Lenten journey is a unique one that marches us toward the cross and ultimately resurrection. Let us believe through faith that just as the dirt on David was removed, thanks to the love and mercy of God that a fallen humanity can also be scrubbed clean in the very same way.
Post on Facebook. Send a tweet. Less than a month before Ash Wednesday Pope Benedict XVI has called on Catholics to get into social media. He blesses the world of Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Facebook.
Liturgical seasons are the way the church marks off time. Liturgical seasons are nice little containers, with corresponding colors. We are humans, and we like to think we have dominion over much, including time.
It's not only Meatless Monday, it's Occupy Our Food Supply Day, so get involved. The ingredient in the secret sauce for making real food safe and acc...
The point of the Lenten fast, for us, is not really about what we give up. It is about what we are supposed to do when we feel ourselves wanting what we have told ourselves we should not have.
It bothers me when other atheists are too quick to do away with the beauty religion cultivates, as if it were necessary to toss the beauty out right along with the cosmology. I think we make a mistake when we fail to distinguish the form from the content of religion.
Every year, the church reminds us to observe an intentional season of introspection during the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday follows Fat Tuesday and launches this season, urging Christians to engage self-regulation.
Eat fat and stay fit? Seriously? Yes, according to Dr. Alan Goldhamer who explored the idea of fasting as a medicine.
Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins (Isaiah 58:1)
Even in our "darkness," or failure to comprehend the light, there is a vibrant word in the world's care. "Light shineth in darkness" (verse 5) and the darkness apprehended it not.
While Lent is traditionally about private sacrifice, with so much talk of religion in the public square, it seems like a good time to consider embracing some collective acts of atonement for the sorry state of human behavior.
For the next 40 days, users can follow Pope Benedict XVI on Twitter to receive daily messages during Lent. Themes from the Pope's 2012 Lenten mess...
Should we persist in fasting, God through Isaiah and those writing in Isaiah's name, describe the fast that pleases God. And there is no mention of chocolate.
So what could a justice-oriented Lent look like? What would it look like if instead of passing up a Snickers bar, we passed on the love of Christ by feeding our neighbors who don't have the luxury of turning down food?
Yes, there is a need for introspection and repenting - I don't want to minimize that. But my tradition also promises a Love that will hold us all forever, in life and in death.
For some people, every day is already a painful reminder that they are made of dust. For these people, sin is not so much about pride, but rather the failure to have a healthy sense of self-esteem and love for oneself.
