A Joyful Lent: Community

The Lenten fast is bookended and interspersed with moments of feasting, and both feasting and fasting can create a sense of community. Shrove Tuesday is also known as Carnival (from carne vale – “goodbye to meat”) or Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), when whole communities would eat supplies of food that were to be avoided in Lent. 

If you are a Downton Abbey fan, you might be interested to know that in England, it was traditional on the middle Sunday of Lent - Mothering Sunday - for those in service in the big houses to be given a day off to return to their “mother” communities, as they would be unable to go home for Easter. The story of feeding the five thousand became the traditional reading for that day, drawing attention to the relationship between sharing food and making community.  Lent is not just an individual spiritual journey, then – it’s about community. 

Interested in more Lent ideas? Try “40 ideas for keeping Lent Holy” at http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/02/27/40-ideas-keeping-lent-holy