Second Sunday in Lent

I spent the first week of Lent painting an icon of the crucifixion of Jesus. The workshop was at Kanuga, an Episcopal conference center in Hendersonville, NC. The beautiful buffets they serve have endless varieties of delicious foods. It was a difficult place to maintain a fast. I was reminded of the story in Mark 2:18-19 and Luke 5:33-34. The Pharisees and scribes ask Jesus why their disciples and the disciples of John fast often, but Jesus' disciples eat and drink. Jesus replied, "Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?" In some ways, that week spent in prayer as we painted and contemplated Jesus was an occasion of being with the bridegroom. Yet, I felt that I had failed in my planned discipline. I think that it is difficult to maintain a discipline of fasting in a world focused on feasting - an all-you-can-eat, supersize-it world of plenty. And that is the point. We are called to observe a holy Lent, turning away from the ways of the world and back to God. To practice prayer, and fasting, and self-denial. God will forgive my momentary lapse, but God does desire that I turn away from my self-indulgent appetites and ways. As my paintbrush gently gave form to the body of Christ held on the cross by his great love for us, I vowed to renew my disciplines during the second week of Lent.