I’ve never eaten three Creme Eggs in one day. I’ve often thought I’d like to. But that’s not how I was brought up. Back on the farm, we were a house of homemade cakes. Fruit cakes were my dad’s favourite. I loved my mum’s Victoria Sandwich with jam and buttercream icing, thank you very much, rather than a disappointing dusting of icing sugar, a thin layer of jam or whipped cream. And there was normally a Simnel cake at Easter, which is the next best thing to a Christmas cake, lacking only the icing.
It wasn’t all homemade. We also had Kit-Kats. You could have one. Both fingers. That was fine. But two Kit-Kats? That was the stuff of dreams. When I stayed at a friend’s house one time and was offered a second Kit-Kat, my head nearly exploded.
I love Cadbury’s Creme Eggs. So could I eat three on Easter Sunday? Of course I could. It is affordable and physically possible. I would love the first. Enjoy the most of the second. And regret the third. But it could be done.
Would it be gluttony? It’s a feast day, right? And what if I’d given up chocolate for the whole of Lent, including Sundays (which isn’t Lent)? What are the rules here?
Giving Up Chocolate For Lent
This is the level of sophistication of the discussion around Lent in contemporary Christian discipleship. But I sense there is a hunger for more. Not just for Creme Eggs but for more understanding about the place of a period of fasting like Lent. We live in a world where you can have anything you like, anytime you want. And as much as you can afford. We do not respond well to this kind of freedom.
We need limits and restrictions. That is how we thrive. I don’t respond well to general requests. Someone asked me for a book review the other day. I’d agreed to it months earlier but I hadn’t been given a deadline or offered money. Naturally, I had to be chased for the article. I did not respond well to the freedom.
In the end, I realised that I had to create my own deadline, using my word as my bond to get the article written. I now realise that if anyone wants me to do anything, especially write something, offer me money. Then it’s a contract. Or give me a deadline. Ideally, both. Then you really will get my very best work.
We crave rules, contracts, covenants and restrictions. This can undoubtedly teeter over into legalism. Jesus’s most deadly enemies were legalists, interested only in keeping the rules. They were enraged by Jesus who was often to be found with the libertines and the rule-breakers.
So what are the rules of Lent?
Honestly? I don’t know. I hope to figure that out over the coming few years.
I can only tell you about what I’m planning for myself this Lent. And I’d be interested to know what you’re doing in the comments below. Seriously. Do put something down there.
This Lent, I hope to get back to studying Mark’s gospel. Last year, when I began my deep dive into Mark, I was really struck by Jesus’ first words. These might help us here if we’re thinking about Lent in the round:
“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15)
Repent and Believe
There are two imperatives here: repent and believe. Repentance comes first. Isn’t that interesting? An awful lot of our evangelism is trying to convince people that Jesus is Lord and saviour to inspire belief that will bring about repentance. But Jesus says repentance comes first.
We find this hard to wrap our heads around, especially if we’ve been discipled by the Elite Enlightenment Establishment. We assume you can’t change someone’s mind unless you give them something else to believe in, a new God to worship, someone to cling to so you can let go of the idol. After all, we are rational beings.
No, we’re not. Jesus says ‘Repent and believe’.
We need to repent. Admit that whatever it is that you’re doing isn’t working. Give it up. Knock it off. Pack it in. Okay? Now believe in Jesus.
Jesus calls his first disciples in the very next verse. Simon and Andrew left their nets and followed Jesus. They repented. They left their old lives behind. Did they understand who Jesus was? That’s a Hard No. The next seven chapters make that abundantly clear. Peter has a good guess about Jesus’s identity in Chapter 8, but when Jesus explains why he’s come, Peter gets it so very wrong that Jesus calls him ‘Satan’. He still doesn’t get it.
Maybe repenting and believing are two sides of the same coin. But I mention it because it’s a helpful way for me to think about Lent. It’s not about giving up certain things. Or abstinence for its own sake. It’s about letting go of things we’ve come to depend on and then seeing what happens. We also turn to something else, and find out where it leads.
So here’s my list for the 40 days of Lent.
Lenten Repentance
Bread: I love bread. All breads. I never saw a loaf I didn’t like. But I eat too much of it, and I don’t want to go back to be being 16 stone 4lb (228b/100kg). I had gotten to that weight in the late 2010s through the much-ignored sin of gluttony. I need to keep an eye on that. So yeasted, yummy bread is off. I’m also going to abstain from cakes and biscuits. That’s fairly easy. But bread is hard to avoid, so I’m going to allow myself one unyeasted flat bread a day. A pitta or wrap is essentially a vehicle for protein and vegetables. That will be my bread for Lent.
Instagram: I like Instagram. It’s no way near as toxic as Twitter, which I’ve mostly stopped using for obvious reasons. The downside of Instagram is that it is now a video platform. Videos take time to watch and before you know it, 15 minutes has passed. That’s been my daily allowance before my phone starts to wag its finger at me. But I’d sometimes override it. No, not sometimes. Usually. I should probably make better use of that time. So I’ve deleted the app from my phone. Maybe I’ll return in April. We shall see.
YouTube: I love YouTube. It’s full of interesting people talking about ideas. But I probably have it on too much in my downtime and should spend more time reading. So I’m going to delete it from my iPad.
And now onto reading:
Christian Non-fiction: I read a fair amount of non-fiction. I just finished a fascinating book on 1945 and the Allied invasion of Germany. But in Lent, all my non-fiction books will be Christian. I’ve started Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer by CS Lewis and Sunday: Keeping Christian Time by Jack Franicevich. Both of those are short. Then I’ll read the First Book of Homilies by Cranmer updated into Modern English. (I’m also reading a novel, another Campion novel by Margery Allingham).
Mark’s Gospel: I’m getting back into Mark’s gospel having spent a season in 1 and 2 Kings that I’m still finishing off. I hope to copy out all of Mark’s gospel by hand in Lent, and maybe the Greek too as a way of getting back into the language that I had been teaching myself. But we shall see about that.
That’s it. Bread. Instagram. YouTube. Christian Non-Fiction. And Mark’s Gospel by hand.
I’ll let you know how I get on. And do please tell me your list in the comments below.
Simon Peter Walks on Water
It was only after recording this chapter of my audio book that I realised my mistake. I say that only one person has walked on water. I should have said two. But clearly Peter’s attempt was less successful and funnier. Let me explain in my Gospel According to a Sitcom Writer podcast. Have you subscribed yet?
My family and I are doing the Orthodox thing of no breakfast Wednesdays or Fridays and no meat or dairy all through & no wine, fish or oil all Mon-Fri. It's been powerful to read about why the Fathers say fasting is pretty essential for Christian discipleship. The repentance first thing is so basic - but so radical!