I’ve read two articles recently focusing on how Christians can come together to support a larger cause when it comes to making sacrifices or showing compassion for Lent.
A group of Anglican British bishops are urging Christians to reduce their carbon footprint during Lent. According to the USA Today, the bishops are asking people to at least go a day without using their iPod, cell phone or other technology. The goal is to use less electricity which will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide put into the air.
Rev. Richard Chartres says man made climate change has a big impact on poor people in developing countries. He says, "[The] Carbon Fast [is] an opportunity to demonstrate the love of God in a practical way."
A second article from The Christian Post highlights a move by the National Council of Churches to focus on clean water during Lent. The organization says billions of people around the world don’t have access to clean water or proper sanitation. They’ve created a blog to help Christians pray, study and take action to help provide more clean water around the world.
The NCC’s Jordan Blevins says, “Water is symbolic of our relationship with God, carrying the image of renewal, promise, and hope. Focusing on the global water, sanitation, and hygiene crisis for the Lenten journey brings us into better relationship with God, and all of God’s people.”
When I hear of people giving up stuff for Lent, often times it's focusing on something personal, like giving up a certain food. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But what about joining together with other Christians to show some sort of larger impact this Lent? Any thoughts?
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Comments (7)
David, Red Letter Believers, "Salt and Light"
http://www.redletterbelievers....
Our faith isn't just periodic or cyclical---we keep Christmas's joy and Easter's hope year-round, life-long---and so our Lenten emphasis on life-style, attitude, relationship, should carry through beyond the forty days.
I’m with sister Sharon on this. What does a carbon fast or an iPod fast have to do with Easter? The Teutonic word, Lent, originally meant nothing more than the spring season. Peter and the apostles knew nothing of Lent. The bishops, elders and deacons after the first century knew nothing of lent. The first mention of Lent was made by St. Athanasius in 33, almost 300 years after the church was birthed. While the first century church required nothing but repentance and faith for salvation, by the 4th century becoming a Christian was an arduous task requiring a one to two year process that the Bishops put candidates through before they could become baptized. And baptisms were held only twice a year, preceded by a 40 day fast at Easter time. The Ethiopian eunuch was baptized at the instant of faith. Paul was Baptized within 3 days. The 3000 at pentecost were baptized the same day. We have allowed secular traditions and spiritual disciplines to smother the evangelical spirit of the early church. Jesus and the first century disciples wore the equivalent of blue jeans and workshirts. Now, especially arount lent, we find pastors wearing multi colored robes, special hats and scarves. We now have a full liturgical calendar with complex rites and practices.
The Anglican Bishop of London has made green issues his personal crusade since his election. It is a distraction from the gospel of the Kingdom. People are going to hell and we are worried about the amount of carbon iPods add to the environment. Meanwhile most of the major tenants of global warming are in question and there is an international investigation into the conduct of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and its chairman Dr Rajendra Pachauri. Now we find the polar bears aren’t declining, the Himmalayan glaciers aren’t melting away, Antarctica has actually had a net gain in polar ice and the director of Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, Phil Jones, has been suspended for cooking the data. He recently admitted that the world might have been hotter during the Medieval Warm Period 1,000 years ago than it is today. I don’t want shaky or fraudulent science to direct my Christian experience.