This document provides information about Lent from the Caféchurch group. It begins with a Bible passage describing Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. It then asks simple questions about what Lent is, when it starts and ends, and what it is for. The responses are that Lent is a 40 day period (not including Sundays) from Ash Wednesday to Easter preparing for Easter, recalling Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness. Several passages and reflections then discuss Lent as a time for spiritual preparation and training through fasting, sacrifice and mourning losses. Suggestions are provided for things to give up or take up during Lent, such as chocolate, social media or journaling. The document encourages observing Lent but notes it

1. Caféchurch
Presents:
Lent

2. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted
by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he
was famished. The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of
God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But he
answered, ‘It is written,
“One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” ’
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle
of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself
down; for it is written,
“He will command his angels concerning you”,
and “On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” ’
Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to
the test.” ’
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all
the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; and he said to him, ‘All
these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ Jesus said to
him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
“Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.” ’
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
Matthew 4:1-11

3. (simple) Questions
• What is Lent?
• When does it start?
When does it end?
• What is it for?

4. Lent
• A time to prepare
yourself for Easter
•Starts on Ash
Wednesday (5/3/14)
and ends on Easter Day
(20/4/13)
• 40 days, not including
Sundays
• Like Jesus’ 40 days in
the wilderness

5. Do you not know that in a race the
runners all compete, but only one
receives the prize? Run in such a way
that you may win it. Athletes exercise
self-control in all things; they do it to
receive a perishable garland, but we an
imperishable one. So I do not run
aimlessly, nor do I box as though
beating the air; but I punish my body
and enslave it, so that after proclaiming
to others I myself should not be
disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27

6. The Training Metaphor
• Anyone is free to run a
marathon. Without
training, however, one
may not be “free” to
complete it.
• Paul likewise
describes the spiritual
life in terms of training
• Ascetic comes from
the word for training.

7. Question
• What do you think
about the idea of
preparing yourself for
Easter. Why do it (or
not)?

8. Preparation
• As a culture, we don’t
really do delayed
gratification – we don’t
value preparation, so it
feels like a funny idea.
•Hen / Stag parties are
one example

9. Question
• What are some things
we have prepared for?

10. An Invitation to Lent
• An invitation, not a
requirement
• If you want to get more
out of your faith journey,
then this is one possible
thing that might help
•Obviously, it’s
supposed to point you
to Jesus

11. Story
• One way to move the
Christian story out of the
purely theoretical and into
real life is to immerse
ourselves in the story, by
ritual, by reading, by
enacting things, by partaking
of the mythic
• With Lent, we re-enact
Jesus’ time of preparation for
his ministry

12. A Few Reflections on Lent
• Small sacrifice reminds me of
my commitment to Jesus
• The desire for the thing I’ve
given up reminds me of my
need for God
• It helps me free myself from
“idols”
• It is an act of solidarity with
the poor
• We live in an instant
gratification world. Fasting
reminds me that this doesn’t
apply to all things – especially
the most important things

13. A More Challenging Idea
Because grief is good. Part of Lent
observance is mourning. I’m not saying that
everyone should go around sad and pitiful for
a month and a half, but Lent may be a good
time to dig deep into your heart about your
losses. One of the biggest issues people don’t
even realize that they have is a lack of grief.
You lost a job, a spouse, a friend, or even a
period of time in your life that you enjoyed is
over. Did you properly grieve it? A lot of times,
we walk around still carrying the weight of
something we’ve lost. Here’s something: Write
loss a letter. Whatever it is that you’ve lost,
even if it’s not a person, write it a letter.
Express how you feel about it and how you
miss the good times. Share any hurt or pain its
loss has caused… Then throw it away. When
you do that, you release yourself from its
weight and you can truly move on.
Read more here

14. Lenten Questions
• Have you ever observed
Lent?
• What did you do?
• How did you find it?

15. Some Ideas of Things To
Give Up
• Chocolate
• Alcohol
• TV
• Social Media
• You could try fasting
– A “Wesleyan” fast is from
after dinner on Wednesday
to dinner on Thursday

16. Some Ideas of Things to
Take Up
• A spiritual book (e.g. New
Seeds of Contemplation,
anything by Richard Rohr)
• A chapter of a Gospel each
day
• Journaling
• The Examen
• A daily Bible reading practice
(e.g. sacredspace.ie ) (or
maybe a couple of days a
week if that seems hard)

17. Lent darkness
Dragons lurk in desert spaces
Penetrating the mind with evil claw.
Serpent’s teeth seek out the chinks
insidiously, relentlessly, gnawing on the bone;
searching out the interstices of muscle and sinew.
Such is the pain of the wilderness.
Alone, alone, alone,
Christ sits
in the waste place of abandoned pleas and
questions
until exhausted
finally
at last
the realisation
comes
that in the end
there is only
God.
In the night-time of our fears
in the present reality of abandonment
when family and friends
turn and run,
be present, ever present God.
Be present with those
camped out in the fields of hopelessness
with refugees and homeless,
those who live lives of quiet desperation.
Be present until the desert places
blossom like the rose
and hope is born again.
– Kathy Galloway (ed.),
The Pattern of Our Days: Liturgies and Resources for Worship
(Glasgow: Wild Goose Publications, 1996), 130.