I’ve got a bit of a confession. I’ve never given anything up for lent. Is that shocking? Actually anyone that knows me would not be surprised that I would be unwilling to go without food for any length of time. And if I did, I’d feel the need to compensate with extra donuts later.
Giving up things for lent, seems to have become more popular in recent years. Whether that’s do to with people wanting to be healthier or more environmentally conscious I’m not sure. I do wonder, though, whether giving things up is really the point. The idea of lent comes from when Jesus went without food for 40 days and at the end of this time, the Bible makes a wonderful understatement, “he was hungry.” When he was then tempted to turn a rock into bread, Jesus replies, “People shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from God.”
The point was not about giving up bread but about feeding on God’s word. Its been said that we are what we eat, so feeding on God’s word should result in living out God’s word too. For this reason I think its so important that when people come into our foodbanks and community hubs that what we offer is so much more than food. We also try to offer an unconditional welcome, a listening ear, all kinds of help to get people back on track. We try to include people in a community that is shaped by God’s love and God’s word. In this way God’s word becomes His living word in us, guiding how we share our lives together. In this way, often without necessarily saying very much, we bring God’s word of life to all who come near.
Lent then, can be about more than giving things up, it can be about sharing the abundant life and love that we receive from God.
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