As a non-denominational protestant, I have been strangely
drawn in the last year to some of the meditative practices of my orthodox
brothers and sisters. Though I don’t do
things JUST “for tradition’s sake” and I believe every soul saved by grace is a
true Saint and we only pray to God not saints, I do find that some of the
traditional practices have a place in my Christian heritage and they are worth
a look. Sometimes I feel we contemporary
protestants throw the baby out with the bath water especially when it comes to
the contemplative and meditational aspects of Orthodoxy. Traditions when kept fresh and done with the
intent to draw us close to God, practiced with grace, outside of legalism, add
rich nuances to the Christian walk.
I would say that for contemporary protestants, we do
practice traditions during Christmas
advent though. Each year I carefully
craft advent activities each night for 25 nights that bring us into a
reflection of the gift of Christmas. Not
only do my children look forward to them every year, but every year we do it
just a bit different to keep it fresh and it’s definitely my children’s
highlight of the season. But when it
comes to matters of Lent, I tend to dismiss it as a Catholic tradition. Why? I
think it’s just because it’s unfamiliar and outside of my normal traditional
upbringing.
This year, I decided that we were going to practice a season
of Lent which started on Wednesday. Let
me just tell you, this gal is a “lent newbie”.
I started just about knowing nothing except there was this odd tradition
of ashes on the forehead on Ash Wednesday.
I mean, since I knew nothing about it, it seemed odd to me. Then I decided to delve more into the purpose
of Lent inside the traditions and I found quite a bit that resounded with my
soul.
And I thought, what if I took some of the traditions and
meditations of Lent and made the next 40 days purposeful just like we do at
advent? I’m not sure there is a “right”
way to do Lent anyways, but it seemed that the traditions of alms giving, fasting, and meditations on the life of Christ could add rich meaning to my
own family.
This is probably the part of the post where all
my orthodox friends chuckle and nod their head with understanding. But for my kids and I here is what we have
practically decided to do to count down towards Easter Sunday:
We are going to spend the next 40 days reflecting on the
ministry of Jesus and we started with the temptation in the wilderness. I have a book called, “The Bible in Picture
for Little Eyes” and it’s perfect for Tessa.
There are 45 stories on the life of Christ and each one has a beautiful
illustration and at the bottom is the corresponding scripture. So we are reading one each night (I know the
math is off, I’m not worried about that), and Hunter will read to us the short
scripture from his own Bible. Easter
week has about 10 stories that tell about His death and resurrection so I
figure we’ll double up there.
In addition, we have little activities to do during the season. The first activity was decorating our Lent
money jar. The kids will work for money
to give to a cause at the end of the season.
I let them decorate the jar, so it’s definitely zany, but I love what it
represents.
Other activities will be service projects (luckily our
church is doing neighborhood serve projects during March we can participate
in), crafts, object lessons (such as resurrection eggs), and other games.
Ann Voskamp has a short meditative Lent devotional for each
day. Actually she’s written two. I chose the first one. I cut off of the picture end of the
devotional and turned them into ornaments for our “Lent tree” though she has
gorgeous pictures in the second set that could also be used. I am using the devotional side myself for my
daily meditations and the children hang the pictures each night since they are
numbered one through forty.
Here is where I threw in the “fasting” loop. I started the South Beach diet this week and
am cutting most sugar for the kids and have bought more fresh produce. Literally, the first two weeks of the South
Beach diet stink. No carbs, no sugar. Period.
I have never ever completely cut that in my life. Meals are bland. Eating bland and healthy as an act of worship
is very new for me. I have never really
reflected on the correlation between food and worship and though it is
scattered throughout the Bible, I always figured I live in New Testatment times
so nothing is forbidden. Bring on the
fried chicken tacos and salsa! I’m sure
that’s what it means. I should also say
that I am not doing this because I have any weight to lose. I would just like to be healthier. I would like to take care of this body that
God gave me, and caring for it seems to be honoring to God. One week in, I’m not gunna lie, this is so
tough! But I’m in for the long
haul. I’ll let you know how it goes. Hunter and Ainsley aren’t minding too much,
but cutting a lot of the sugar in the house and adding more veggies has Tessa
in fits most meals. So this will be good
for her too.
I know many Orthodox people study and learn about different
Saints. Since I believe all believers
are saints, I chose to focus on inspiring missionaries of the faith. I bought some children’s biographies on
Corrie Ten Boom, Hudson Taylor, Amy
Carmichael, David Livingston, Jim Elliott and others. We will be reading and reflecting on
inspiring people who sacrificed for the love of others around the world and
perhaps even some of the martyrs of the faith.
If we are looking towards the victory of Easter and the resurrection, it
seems that looking at people who have gone before us who have lived their lives
in that victory and sacrifice would be inspiring.
Sadly, I have only every focused on the season on the three
days of Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday and have missed the season of
reflection and build up towards the day.
This year we intend to be more intentional and see what God grows in us
this season. If you have practiced the season
of Lent as a family, what was the most meaningful part of the season for
you? Is there something you would
recommend this newbie trying?
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