Before I forget, I need to add Susan Russell's blog to my links list. Susan -- who I am happy to say reads this blog -- is the president of Integrity USA and a leading spokesperson for the rights of gay and lesbian folk in the life of the church. She's also, wonderfully enough, on staff at All Saints. She and her partner Louise were married at our church on February 18. And Susan is nearly perfect: she's an ENFJ, which is what I used to be until I mysteriously switched over to ENFP recently.
It's Ash Wednesday, and I'm in the office, preparing for a long day of teaching. I met Pepe, my trainer, for boxing lessons at 5:15AM, came home 80 minutes later and enjoyed some "out time" with Matilde. (She has a dust bath Wednesday mornings).
I've got some letters of recommendation to write now. I've got a lecture on Gilgamesh at 10:25AM, a lecture on the Protestant Reformation at 12 noon, and a discussion of Lilian Faderman and lesbian historiography at 1:35.
This afternoon, I've got a quick weight workout scheduled at the gym, followed by an easy five-mile run (I'm already on taper for the LA marathon, now 18 days away.) After that, it's off to All Saints for youth group and our special Ash Wednesday service. We've got such a special group of teens this year; even though I see most of them twice a week, I still eagerly anticipate seeing their gorgeous and delightful faces!
For Lent this year, I'm giving up all soda and carbonated drinks. Lately, thanks to my poor sleep schedule, I've become seriously addicted to Monster Lo-Carb energy drink. I power down a couple of cups of coffee a day, and adding those (plus the occasional diet Coke) on top of the java is a hell of a lot of caffeine. I haven't the slightest intention of giving up coffee, but I am surrendering the Monsters and the Cokes, at least until Resurrection Sunday!
In my faith journey, I've not always given up things for Lent. In recent years, I've focused on simply taking on an extra activity, or increasing my volunteer hours. But I realize that for someone like me, that's a mistake. It's easy for me to always do more. I know how to push myself pretty hard, often to the point of exhaustion or illness. What I'm not nearly as good at is surrendering things, particularly the little addictions (like Lo-Carb Monster drinks) that I rely on to "power through" my various obligations.
This year, I want to remember that Lent is a season in which we are invited to become more dependent on God and less dependent on the things of the world. My soda habit, like all addictions, distracts me from that "small voice" of God. The addiction, fueling me with huge amounts of caffeine, gives me the illusion of power and control and invincibility. Lent is a time to get in touch with our vulnerability, our fragility, and our mortality. By depriving myself -- cold turkey -- of a substance on which I have come to rely, I know I'm going to have some discomfort. And in that discomfort, I'll be forced (in a small way) to turn towards Christ. This afternoon, the cravings for the Monster drink will kick in (about 2:45PM, my usual time to chug one down). I'll resist the temptation, and I'll let the addictive desire serve as a reminder to pray. Monks in monasteries may have bells that call them to regular prayer; from experience, I know that withdrawal from a beloved substance serves a similar function.
But Ash Wednesday is not only about my private battles. I'll be keeping track of what I would have spent this Lent on Monster drinks (they aren't cheap; $1.79 each at Trader Joe's) and other soda. Come Holy Week, I'll be giving that money to Episcopal Relief and Development. I'll let you know what the sum ends up being.
Finally, I'm moved and inspired by Roger Cardinal Mahony's brave and prophetic insistence this Lent that the church in Los Angeles stand with undocumented workers. Mahony has been a controversial figure, both for his reluctance to release info about pedophile priests and for his willingness to spend extravagantly to build LA's new cathedral. But on labor and immigration issues, he has been solidly progressive. The Times reports:
In his most forceful comments to date, Mahony said he would instruct his priests to defy legislation — if approved by Congress — that would require churches and other social organizations to ask immigrants for legal documentation before providing assistance and penalize them if they refuse to do so. That provision was included in the immigration bill recently passed by the House of Representatives; a similar proposal is in the version that the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to begin debating this week.
I am quite confident that Bishop Jon Bruno of the Episcopal dioces of LA will take much the same stand. Anti-immigrant hysteria, particularly here in Southern California, is reaching a dangerous level; it's time for the churches to speak unequivocally about our obligation to care for the strangers in our midst: Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.
Mahony is my hero of the week.
Let us know how giving up soda goes. I honestly don't think I can do it, even though it's rotting my teeth . . .
Posted by: The Happy Feminist | March 01, 2006 at 09:50 AM
I gave 'em up about a month ago (well, not the ginger ale, and not quite cold turkey) and it's worked out for me so far.
Posted by: David Thompson | March 01, 2006 at 02:31 PM
Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
I have never given anything up for Lent (or adopted a discipline or meaningful ritual for Lent). But as newly minted Anglican I think that I should. You sound quite attached to this soda. If you can stop that for this interum, then I can do similarly. Thanks for the motivation!
Posted by: Troy Blomquist | March 01, 2006 at 03:26 PM
I used to drink at least a can of Dr Pepper a day, probably 10 a week, and once I got off it for a while, it now just tastes terrible, as does most soda. Once in a while I'll drink a high quality Root Beer, but all the cheap machine-available stuff, even my formerly beloved Dr Pepper, is just undrinkable now.
Of course, I just replaced them with more coffee and tea, and I probably replaced the sugar with more solid forms of sugar, so I'm not claiming any significant victory over my monkeys here.
Posted by: djw | March 01, 2006 at 09:18 PM
And he is mine too.
Posted by: barb | March 02, 2006 at 04:33 AM