Keeping Lent
What are you giving up for Lent this year? What is your Lenten discipline?

These are common questions in the season of Lent. For years I used to try to think of something that would require me to endure some significant (I could even say faithful) deprivation, but which would also have other desired benefits as well, such as giving up sweets and snacks and thus losing weight, or working out at the gym three days a week but also seeing my boyfriend there. In retrospect, it seems that each of these was more of an indulgence than a pious deprivation.

So let's ask the question again. What is your Lenten discipline this year, your Lenten discipline? The word is so similar to the word disciple. They have a similar derivation, and each of them implies a sense of intention and an obedience in following a worthy purpose or person. So perhaps this year during Lent, rather than trying to keep the rules of a particular discipline, we would do better if we try instead to become a disciple of Christ; rather than trying to follow a set of rules, we can pursue the blessing of a relationship. We can become disciples ourselves, students in dialogue with our teacher as we walk along together towards Easter, that great day of Resurrection.

--The Rev. Margaret Gunness
from “A True Lenten Discipline: Walking with Christ”

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