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The Radio 3 Boards > General Chat > The Coffee Bar > Lent?
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Author Topic: Lent?  (Read 336 times)
Don Basilio
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Era solo un mio sospetto
« Reply #15 on: 12:56:07, 12-02-2008 »
Jesus did say not to let people know you are fasting when you do so, so I won't go in to specifics.

It is useful to break with compulsions.  I know I can't give up alcohol, but I am trying to not have it on Fridays and Wednesdays.  It feels so good the next evening to have another drink.

I have made my list, and it is far easier to think of things not to do, than things to do, which Ruth's vicar rightly says is just or more important.

I am going to read books and listen to music which I have acquired but not got round to  reading/getting to know.

I will finish Terry Eagleton's Literary Theory.  I will not load any more music on my ipod (The Yeoman of the Guard will have to wait to Easter.)
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
harmonyharmony
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« Reply #16 on: 21:48:58, 12-02-2008 »
"Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?"
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share you bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Isaiah 58 5-7

I realise that some people may feel uncomfortable with me quoting the Bible like this, and I'm sorry if anyone feels got at. I sincerely hope you don't. I find these words were a great inspiration to me this week and I only wish that I, as well as the wider church could live by them.

I have some musical rituals for Lent: I try to listen to a few Passions (at the very least Bach's St Matthew, Penderecki's St Luke and Pärt's St John), some Seven Last Words (normally Gubaidulina and MacMillan) and I like to give Schnittke's 2nd Symphony a spin at some point during Holy Week.

I've also just put up my usual Lent desktop, which is something I love:
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'is this all we can do?'
anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965)
http://www.myspace.com/itensemble
Don Basilio
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Gender: Male
Posts: 2682


Era solo un mio sospetto
« Reply #17 on: 21:57:13, 12-02-2008 »
It's an alternative reading for Ash Wednesday, isn't it?  And very fine too.  The only problem is that it can be interpreted to mean "we don't need ritual fasting/self-denial.  The only thing that matters is to be kind to other people."  I reckon that being nice to other people requires a degree of training in self-discipline.
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
harmonyharmony
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« Reply #18 on: 22:08:07, 12-02-2008 »
I think that the fasting helps some people but not others.
I don't feel like I'm really ready in myself to give anything up this year (well, apart from the whisky but that's more of a convenient fast than anything determined by the Church calender - it felt like I should give it a break for a while and it just happened to be coming up to Lent). I've had so many changes in my life over the last six months that I think it would have a destabilising influence on me right now. I'm quite interested in fasting for Advent this year...
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'is this all we can do?'
anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965)
http://www.myspace.com/itensemble
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