It's Friday! Time for another Company Girl Coffee. I've got a nice mug of green/white/peach tea (it's REALLY GOOD, I promise) and there's snow on the ground and the dogs are going crazy. A proper Denver morning in February, if you ask me.
Eli says a proper morning begins at 10am, no more of this 5am business.
This has been kind of an interesting week, what with Lent beginning and all. Brian has been ordained for all of 3.5 months and on Tuesday he went and got himself his first collared clergy shirt to wear to the Ash Wednesday service. YOW. I'm still getting used to this Pastor's Wife (PW) thing, but seeing him in the same shirt the 4 (four!) pastors at my home church wore every single day was a little...odd.
I've thought more about Lent this year than I have in years past. Growing up, I went to a Lutheran church that wasn't exactly oppressive, but very steeped in doctrine and kind of strong-willed in a socially conservative way. In other words, there was a definite right and wrong way to live. And one of the right things to do was give up something - something significant - for Lent. You weren't bad if you opted out, but you were very very good if you opted in. The problem was, I don't remember receiving much info on why we were making a sacrifice. I got that Jesus fasted for 40 days (and the guy who actually fasted for Lent became a small-time celebrity of sorts) so we should give up something too, but I didn't learn much beyond that. Lent in my childhood was essentially a competition to see who could 'give up' the best.
It should be no surprise, then, to learn that when I went to college (and started going to a very different kind of church) I never really 'did' Lent. Now, at age 26, I am finally a part of a doctrine-oriented church again, and I have come back to the practice of Lent. I hope to learn more about this part of our spiritual journey - really experience it the way we are intended. If you know of any great reads on Lent, or fasting in general, I would love to hear them in the comments!
We have had an extraordinarily busy week for us, with meetings and activities every night Sunday-Thursday...and then watching the Olympics after that keeps us up even later. (We don't have a DVR.) I am tired; Brian is exhausted.
Tonight, we sleep.
Rory says sleep is for the weak and that she would much rather be chewing on this blanket here. Because that's what is supposed to be going on at 6am on a Friday.
A couple knitting updates:
I realized sometime in the past week that the fun stripey socks I'd begun required more yarn than I had for the project. So...I've finished one of those and I have found some more of the yarn second-hand (it's discontinued). I'm hoping to get that yarn before the end of Feb, so I can finish up this second sock and have some fun new foot-sweaters.
In the meantime, I decided to start a shawl I've had my eye on for many months. It's more or less a triangle shape, knitted in three 'stages' of sorts. I've finished the first stage and I'm in the transition part to the second stage. This is my first real actual lace project with real actual lace-sized yarn. I'm pretty stoked about it. I might be able to finish by the end of the month, but it might take me a little longer than that. We'll see.
Beginning stages of lace. It's much bigger now.
So tell me, what are you up to this weekend?
Very neat post!! I crochet but knitting is a bigger challenge to me!! Have a great day!!
ReplyDeleteyou don't have DVR? how do you LIVE?? okay, I'm kidding but almost kind of not because I really really appreciate my DVR, haha.
ReplyDeleteYou remind me so much of a friend of mine, btw. She is a new pastor's wife as well, loves UNC (she's the one that lives in the church on Franklin St), lived in Denver, etc. I was telling her about you the other day, too, haha.
I used to have a Tivo, back when it was awesome. I do miss it. I have almost weaned myself off of live tv by watching things online. There are two exceptions - Carolina basketball (or March Madness in general) and...The Soup.
ReplyDeleteLove the pictures of your dog. Too cute! I'm knitting this weekend too, but only dishcloths. I'm going to be flying and then be at a conference, so I need something to keep my hands busy.
ReplyDeleteI am glad one of us is enjoying the snow here today! :) Hope you have a great weekend and stay warm!
ReplyDeleteI was wishing our dusting of snow (I'm down I-25 from you) was a little more so I could have had a 2 hour delay. But still it was pretty, and it's coming down again. I'm intrigued by your thoughts about Lent, and realizing that I have never really practiced it with much understanding before. Thanks for the thoughts! Good luck with the knitting!
ReplyDeleteI've never really practiced lent before either....when I've heard other people talk about it I will admit that it hasn't been something that I've really been convicted about doing...especially when I hear people say...oh, I gave up chocolate or coffee...there must be more to it than that, isn't there? Nice shawl...I bet it'll be pretty when it's done!
ReplyDeleteVery thoughtful post! Cute dogs. I especially like how you wrote in their thoughts. :)
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
-Melissa
We do not "do lent" in our church as part of our regular tradition but last year we did fast for the 40 days leading up to Easter. I LOVED it! I learned so much during that time and grew tons!
ReplyDeleteHope you have a great season of lent and get lots of rest this weekend!
Love the doggies! I wish I could knit - it's one of those things I have always wanted to try and just never have.
ReplyDeleteI have never been part of a religion that observes Lent (Baptist growing up and non-denom now) but I had many friends that did. I think it is a great thing to do if you do it for the right reasons, thoughtfully and prayerfully and happily. I never did understand those that complained about it leading up to it and huffed and puffed through the 40 days. ;) I hope you find the spiritual journey you desire.
Dawn
This is interesting because I grew up in a Baptist church and we never observed Lent. Now we're at a Presbyterian church and it's our first time going through a Ash Wednesday service, etc. So I googled the topic a bit, and there are some interesting thoughts out there on this. I'd like to know of some books on this too.
ReplyDeleteI grew up Catholic so we always practiced Lent. But now that I'm "evangelical Christian" I've mainly avoided anything that was not scriptural that I used to do as a Catholic. I never knew Presbyterians practiced Lent too! Although there are lots of great things about fasting that I'm interested in, so please do share info/books when you come across them!
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend.
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteWe go to a Baptist church, so not much is said about Lent, but we generally fast from something in this time. A friend of mine posted this http://mikerusch.com/post/400512979/lent-preparation-the-christian-tradition-of earlier...and I love it. I know, not exactly what you meant when you asked for a resource, but definitely something I thought I could pass on!
Thanks for stopping by my blog! :) Sounds like there are a number of us doing laundry over the course of the weekend! (I did another two loads today!!) Hope you had a great one!
ReplyDeleteI've been in a non-denominational church for a very long time, and I think we sort of miss out on some of the great traditions and teachings of the church calendar. For many people, I suppose the meaning of lent is that you should party hard during mardigras before you have to give it all up....kind of defeating the purpose of searching one's own heart. Just like communion, I think it's something that a person should do from the heart, for a spiritual purpose.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated what you shared about your Lenten experiences. I think one reason that the "low church" denominations don't practice Lent is to avoid a works focus that could take the focus off of grace. But in nixing traditions, we also miss out on their potential if practiced "in spirit and in truth."
ReplyDelete