Fasting for Lent?

Lent is underway and the fast is on. Are you fasting from something this Lenten season? If so, what? And more importantly, why?

I hope this poem, originally written as a Reader’s Theater for our worship last night, provides you with some insights into what this season is really about. This piece has words from Ellen Kordik, Linda Owens, and Rev. Leah Robberts-Mosser

Ash Wednesday is the start of Lent
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of 40 days of penitence
Ash Wednesday is …well…one of those weird
worship services
we all struggle to understand.
For starters – it’s Worship at night –
the sanctuary looks so different
without light streaming in through the windows
without the sun to warm the room.
As we come to worship tonight
The ghosts of Ash Wednesdays past come along with us
The trappings of Lent get in the way.
Lent starts
Since Jesus suffered
We must suffer too!
Guess it’s time to give up candy until Easter
Cause that would be a real sacrifice!
No more fried foods!
No more soft drinks!
No more TV!
No more fun!
Parties are suspect during Lent
get your share of partying and fun during Mardi Gras
cause after tonight
it’s all gone!
It’s time to eat fish on Fridays and think about how horrible a person you are!
Really?
Well, that’s what I always thought as a kid
It’s time to dwell on my shortcomings
That’s what this night has always meant to me
It was nothing more than leaving worship with ash on my forehead
and dust in my eyes.
Everyone is quiet
sad somehow.
This is a time of penitence
for all the bad I've done
and the good I haven't done.
Sackcloth and ashes,
Repentance and grief.
Suspicion and guilt
Obligation and sacrifice
Death and dying
Ugh! It’s so somber!
It’s such a downer!
I don’t get it!
To be honest
I don’t understand
I don’t understand what tonight is about.
If God loves us, why aren’t we
Happy.
So much Lenten baggage!
So many ghosts of Ash Wednesdays past!
That should be enough "baggage" for anyone, don't you think?
We've come a long way from those days for sure.
Tonight
tonight is a reality check
The reality is – life doesn’t always go the way we plan
The reality is – sometimes, no matter how hard we work, we don’t succeed
The reality is – mistakes happen
And, the reality is, we don’t have to pretend
We don’t have to pretend that everything is fine all the time
We don’t have to pretend that everything is perfect all the time
We don’t have to pretend
Tonight we can be honest
Tonight we can be real
Tonight we can admit
We’ve made mistakes
We’ve not hit the mark
We’ve messed up
And it’s ok to say so
Our humanity is real
And it’s ok to say so
Our humanity is precious
It’s a precious gift from God
Who once scooped up a handful of dirt and breathed life into it
Who once formed and shaped us from the earth
Who said, “You are dust and to dust you shall return”
as a blessing
not a curse
as a good thing
not a condemnation
as the beloved reality of our beloved, tenuous existence
we are dust
and to dust we shall return