RevGalBlogPals Friday Five

Friday Five: What Are You Doing For Lent?

as posted by Mother Laura

Ready or not, Lent is upon us! To get you in the mood for this week's Friday Five here is a pretty setting of one of my favorite pieces of Lenten music: Hosea, written by the monks of Weston Priory.

1. Did you celebrate Mardi Gras and/or Ash Wednesday this week? How?
We observed Ash Wednesday at church with the imposition of ashes and communion.

2. What was your most memorable Mardi Gras/Ash Wednesday/Lent?
Several years ago when The SportsQueen was about 5 and The Entertainer was about 3, they were helping me serve communion by intinction. The SportsQueen was holding the chalice. The Entertainer was standing in front of me holding half of the loaf of King's Hawaiian bread. As each one came forward, I broke the piece of bread from the loaf The Entertainer was holding. The girls were very poised. The congregation loved them assisting. The organist and chair of PPR (personnel) was the last in line. As she began to move forward, the Entertainer sneezed -- right into the loaf of bread! As I smothered my laugh, I looked at the organist and said, "Just a minute, I'll be right back." I took the bread from the Entertainer, who was as mortified as a 3 year old could be, retrieved the unused half of bread from the altar, put the "fresh" bread into the Entertainer's hands, and served the organist. This is still one of my favorite, funny moments in ministry. And, of course, the church talked about it for weeks, giggling every time.

3. Did you/your church/your family celebrate Lent as a child? If not, when and how did you discover it?
I grew up in a non-liturgical tradition and learned about Lent when I went to Benedictine College

4. Are you more in the give-up camp, or the take-on camp, or somewhere in between?
Depending on the year, depends on what I do. A year after my separation, I weighed about 110 pounds and everyone could see that I was very underweight (the pediatrician told me to eat ice cream every day) so giving up food was not a good idea. That year, every Wednesday, I worked on a Habitat House. I got to know some of our retired men from church better than I would have otherwise. We talked about all kinds of stuff during lunch or while holding boards for each other.

I miss being in a community that has Habitat during the week in addition to weekends.

Other years, I have given up things or even both -- given up and taken on.

5. How do you plan to keep Lent this year?
This year, I am giving up carbonated beverages. Two days into it, it is harder than I thought it would be, especially for eating out because I do not like plain water.