{"id":33008,"date":"2023-02-22T01:59:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T01:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=33008"},"modified":"2023-02-26T21:34:57","modified_gmt":"2023-02-26T21:34:57","slug":"lent-is-here-remind-me-what-its-all-about-5-essential-reads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/lent-is-here-remind-me-what-its-all-about-5-essential-reads\/","title":{"rendered":"Lent is here \u2013 remind me what it\u2019s all about? 5 essential\u00a0reads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Molly Jackson<\/a>, The Conversation<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreheads smudged with the sign of the cross are the most visible sign of Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent in many Christian denominations. The 40-day period leads up to Holy Week, some of the most sacred days in the church calendar \u2013 including Easter, which commemorates Christians\u2019 central belief that Jesus was crucified and buried before rising from the dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if Easter is associated with celebration and triumphal joy, Lent is more a season of soul-searching and spiritual discipline. Here are some of The Conversation\u2019s many articles exploring the history and significance of Ash Wednesday and Lent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Ash Wednesday<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start with the basics: What is Ash Wednesday? Why do worshippers spend the day wearing ashes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christians who participate in Ash Wednesday services, where clergy often daub their foreheads with the sign of the cross, are participating in a thousand-year-old tradition, explained William Johnston<\/a>, a professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton. In part, the practice exists to call churchgoers to repentance as they begin the spiritual journey of Lent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two phrases used in services over the centuries underscore that call to penance: \u201cRemember, man, that you are dust and to dust you shall return,\u201d taken from the biblical Book of Genesis; and \u201cRepent, and believe in the Gospel,\u201d words of Jesus\u2019 in the Gospel of Mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach phrase in its own way serves the purpose of calling the faithful to live their Christian lives more deeply,\u201d Johnston wrote<\/a>. The first urges believers to \u201cfocus on what is essential,\u201d while the second is \u201ca direct call to follow\u201d Jesus\u2019 teachings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Why ashes, though?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For a deeper dive on the practice, Michael Laver<\/a> of Rochester Institute of Technology looked back at ashes\u2019 spiritual symbolism throughout history. They figure in many biblical stories, where they represent penitence and remorse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two
Pastors at St. John\u2019s Lutheran Church in Sacramento provide \u2018Ashes to Go\u2019 for those who want to participate in Ash Wednesday worship but cannot attend a church service. AP Photo\/Rich Pedroncelli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Christian churches have used ashes to demonstrate repentance for centuries, but that isn\u2019t to say the practice is unchanging. Laver, an Episcopal priest and historian of Christianity, traced how the Protestant Reformation initially put ashes out of favor in non-Catholic churches. They reembraced the practice in the 1800s, at a time \u201cwhen many Protestant churches entered into intentional dialogue with each other and with the Catholic Church, a phenomenon that is called the \u2018ecumenical movement,\u2019\u201d he wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, many churches have been innovating yet again, offering \u201cashes to go\u201d to passersby in public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. The long journey of Lent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After Ash Wednesday begins the 40-day period of Lent, a word whose roots refer to the \u201clengthening\u201d of days in springtime. Spiritually, however, its purpose is preparation: a time of fasting and prayer before the joy of Easter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fasting was common by the fourth century as a way to avoid self-indulgence during a time of repentance \u2013 even marriage was prohibited during Lent, as College of the Holy Cross professor Joanne Pierce<\/a> explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Christians follow traditional fasts today, but others give up something pleasurable for the entire 40 days, from chocolate to TV. But Lent is not just about giving up, according to Pierce<\/a>. Its spiritual renewal is about giving, too, such as \u201cmaking amends with estranged family and friends,\u201d or doing community service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Your body sans sugar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Giving up chocolate must be one of the most common Lenten vows \u2013 but what happens if you take it a step further and nix sweets entirely?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Penn State neuroscientist Jordan Gaines Lewis<\/a> walked us through the science of your brain on sugar<\/a>. The delight it brings most people is a \u201cnatural reward,\u201d an incentive to keep eating carbohydrates. But \u201cmodern diets have taken on a life of their own,\u201d she wrote: even a decade ago, the average American was estimated to consume 22 teaspoons of added sugar per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Small
Sugar rodents. Sugar by Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe notion of sugar addiction is still a rather taboo topic,\u201d Lewis noted. Yet experiments with animals suggest that sugar may hook us in a similar way that drugs do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRepeated access to sugar over time leads to prolonged dopamine signaling, greater excitation of the brain\u2019s reward pathways and a need for even more sugar to activate all of the midbrain dopamine receptors like before,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe brain becomes tolerant to sugar \u2013 and more is needed to attain the same \u2018sugar high.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Looking for God online<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another increasingly popular \u201cfast\u201d is especially 21st century: going offline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking a pause from the internet, especially social media, is sometimes promoted as a way to help focus on faith and \u201creal world\u201d connections. That can work, but some of these theories\u2019 assumptions about technology are misguided, argued Heidi Campbell<\/a>, a Texas A&M communications expert who studies religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digital fasting often buys into the idea of \u201ctechnological determinism,\u201d which often portrays technology as something dehumanizing and all-powerful. But this overlooks users\u2019 ability to make choices about which goals of theirs technology can and can\u2019t fulfill \u2013 including spiritual goals. Today, apps even offer to help people study religious texts, find faith-based products, or connect with others who share their beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTechnology can, in fact, be good for religion,\u201d Campbell wrote<\/a>. \u201cThe question is, how do we engage with technology thoughtfully and actively?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christians live out Lent in many different ways. Yet \u201cLent in the 21st century remains essentially the same as in centuries past,\u201d as Pierce wrote<\/a>: \u201ca time of quiet reflection and spiritual discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation\u2019s archives.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Molly Jackson<\/a>, Religion and Ethics Editor, The Conversation<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Molly Jackson, The Conversation Foreheads smudged with the sign of the cross are the most visible sign of Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent in many Christian denominations. The 40-day period leads up to Holy Week, some of the most sacred days in the church calendar \u2013 including Easter, which commemorates Christians\u2019 central […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":33009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2450],"tags":[5956,1829,5984,2275,2423,12746,13583,3205,5955,6610,13584],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33008"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33008"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33050,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33008\/revisions\/33050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}