“What are you giving up for Lent?”
This question often pops up this time of year, as a way to simplify (oversimplify?) our six-week journey of Lent into some type of New Year’s Resolution, or a habit to break, or a way to deal with some level of guilt about the way that we live. Now, this Lenten practice of giving up something considered unhealthy might be incredibly meaningful for some folks, and some Christians have used Lenten fasting as a way to create healthier relationships with their bodies, their friends and families, and/or with God. However, this question above can also become a social-media-world’s guilt trip about forced expectations, obligations, or assumptions about some idealized perfectionist way we are supposed to live. Christine Valters Paintner wonders if there is perhaps a more relevant question to ask:
“What are the things you hunger for?”
With this question, Valters Paintner begins us on a Lenten journey, through her book A Different Kind of Fast: Feeding Our True Hungers in Lent. For seven weeks (she begins with Ash Wednesday week), she invites us to join God on a two-part journey. She leads us inwardly, helping us ask and answer that second question above, deeply searching our hearts for our hungers and hopes. And she leads us outwardly, using her gifts as a retreat facilitator and creative teacher through a series of Lenten practices meant to engage us in practicing our faith. Together this Lent, we will follow her as she guides us through “a different kind of fast:” fasting from consuming, or fasting from certainty, or fasting from holding it all together, and many others. Beginning on February 13th, join us every Tuesday at noon through Easter for our Lunch and Learn study. You are invited to attend, online or in person. Having your own copy of the book is not expected, but offers an opportunity to inhale more deeply from the wisdom that God offers through her words.
Note: We’ve just learned that the book is backordered, even with the publisher, Broadleaf Books. Broadleaf Books says they are expediting a second printing, and more copies should be available around 3/15–3/17.
About the Lunch & Learn Study
Several times each year, particularly around Advent and Lent but not limited to those times, a Tuesday Lunch & Learn group gathers weekly for a topical Bible study or book study and discussion. Keep an eye out here for the next one!