This Wed is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent, a forty-day period of fasting (or self-discipline/denial) broken by Easter/Resurrection Sunday. Although I have never practiced (or celebrated?) Lent, I think I'd like to try this year. I recall some of my Catholic friends refraining from eating meat on Fridays or fasting from TV, but for some reason, my church had never talked about it at all. We tend to only celebrate Good Friday and Easter.

A quick funny story - last year my law school small section attended an appellate argument, so we were all kind of dressed up nicely. One of my classmates had a dirty spot on his forehead, it looked like he fell or accidently got lead on his face. I was talking to him, looking at the spot, and then I said, "You got something there" and waving my hand as if to wipe his forehead. "Oh no," he said, "it's for Ash Wednesday." It dawned on me. I knew he was Roman Catholic, and that must be one of their practices. Haha. Just kidding.

Back to Lent - I really liked this article in PRISM, an e-newsletter from Evangelicals for Social Action (ESA).

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EXPERIMENTS IN JUSTICE: How some middle-class church folks tried living on minimum wage for Lent, by Tim Cole.

Ever wonder what it would be like to try practically identifying with the experience of being poor? A group at the Bristol Vineyard in England did just that. Here's a report of what happened.

A group of us from Bristol Vineyard met together as
a 10-week study group to read and talk about what it
would look like for God's justice to increasingly
break in to the world. We worked with a variety of
texts, from biblical passages such as Psalm 72 and
Isaiah 58, and with extracts from the writings of
people like Ron Sider, Walter Brueggemann, and
others.

One of the results of meeting together was an
invitation we issued to the rest of our church
community to join us in a challenge for the duration
of Lent 2002. The idea came from the group Church
Action on Poverty to live during the six weeks of
Lent on the amount of disposable income you would
have if you lived on the minimum wage (to learn what
minimum wage is in your state, go to
http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm). Some in
our church community, of course, already lived off
the minimum wage or less. Many of us, however, lived
off considerably more.

Our aim in doing this was to experiment with a
number of ideas. First, we saw this as a chance to
personally identify, in some small way, with those
who live on a minimum wage. For some of us, this act
of identification was a political one, and resulted
in letters to local and national politicians calling
for structural change. Second, we saw this as an
opportunity to experience in greater measure the joy
of giving. As a result of living off less, we aimed
to give away what we had "saved." Third, we saw this
challenge as an opportunity to intentionally pursue
the spiritual disciplines of frugality and
simplicity for six weeks. By intentionally living
off less, we sought to invite God to change our
attitudes towards money and possessions. And,
finally, we saw this as a prophetic act calling
others in our church to reflect upon the meaning
given to money and possessions, and our attitudes
towards compassion and justice.

We were very aware that this was a spiritual
discipline we were pursuing within community. So
alongside personally journaling our reflections on
how this challenge was affecting us, we also met
together to talk about the things we were
discovering and experiencing. Here are some extracts
from my Lent diary:

> Week One
I have some confessions to make: before Lent I
filled the car up with gas [editor's note: gas costs
approximately four times as much in the U.K. as it
does in the U.S.]. I also did a big shop at the
store to fill our cupboards and the fridge! I feel a
bit bad about the shameless stocking up on gas and
groceries. But I was conscious that we were having
people over for dinner, and a friend was arriving to
stay with us for a little over three weeks. I was
"scared" that living on the minimum wage wouldn't
allow us to be hospitable.

> Week Two
Money was tight this week. Didn't have to buy any
more gas for the car yet, but if we had that would
have put us over our limit. On Saturday we had a
wedding (it was local, so travel costs were minimal,
and we had already paid for a present, so it was
cheap entertainment!) But we did have my
sister-in-law's birthday, so we bought flowers for
her. One of the things we have talked about with the
other guys doing this is how we are suddenly so much
more sensitized to how much of our "entertainment" -
going out for dinner with friends or to a movie - is
potentially exclusive simply because of the cost. We
have all started to experience having to say "no" to
invitations to go out somewhere because we can't
afford it on our minimum wage budget. Or worse
still(!), friends say to us, "Oh, you are doing the
Lent thing, so let me buy you a drink!" Which is
kind of nice, but also kind of weird.

> Week Three
Overspent.

> Week Four
Seriously overspent.

> Week Five
Had an interesting talk on Sunday afternoon about
our experiences with some of the other folks who are
doing this. Even doing simple stuff like not getting
a take-out coffee feels like a "sacrifice" - giving
up something that feels like a "right." It's
interesting to think about the kinds of things that
become "rights" so easily and quickly once your
salary hits a certain level. My wife and I spent
some time on Sunday talking about where we are going
to give the money away, which was fun. That is the
exciting bit of this whole experience, but
something, of course, that long-term minimum-wage
earners could not look forward to.

> Week Six
An expensive week feeding 9 people, rather than the
normal 2, for parts of the week. Spent loads on
groceries. The end result was quite a hefty
overspend. But the good news is that we got an
unexpected check through from the bank which cleared
our overspend. It was interesting going shopping
earlier this week to get a present for our niece (a
Disney video). I felt repulsed by all the stuff
there was in the shops. I stood in the store and
looked around me and thought, "Absolutely none of
this stuff is essential." I guess this exercise has
made us think about what are the absolute
essentials, and then what are some of the small
treats that we have been allowing ourselves (we
bought Ben & Jerry's ice cream last week!). It has
meant that we haven't bought non-essentials. I don't
know how to express it, but I almost felt nauseated
by all this stuff in these shops, which all the
people around us were buying, most of which was
totally pointless and unneeded. I think as a couple
we have always tried to live a relatively simple
life, but doing this has made me think more about
the difference between necessity and stuff which is
unimportant and unnecessary.

We talked some more this week about where we wanted
to give the money we've saved, which is so
enjoyable. It's funny: intentionally living off so
much less makes you realize just how much you really
can give away. And it makes you look at what you
normally give and realize that it is far from being
sacrificial, and actually pretty miserly. We are
hoping and praying that the envelopes of cash that
we will be giving away to a few people in a couple
day's time will be to them what that surprise check
from the bank was to us.

(Tim Cole is on the pastoral staff of the Bristol
Vineyard, and is a professor of history at Bristol
University. He is also the editor of AVC-UK edition
of THE CUTTING EDGE. This article appears by kind
permission of THE CUTTING EDGE editors. For an index
of their past issues, go to
http://www.vineyardusa.org/publications/newsletters/
cutting_edge/index.htm

** ** **

For parents and other educators who would like to
deal with this subject with children, good resources
can be found at the Bread for the World Institute
website at
http://www.bread.org/howtohelp/church/sundayschool.html

And check out the Children's Activities at
http://www.hungernomore.org/childrens_activities/index.htm

especially "Making It Through the Month" at
http://www.hungernomore.org/childrens_activities/2002%
20edition/activity_4.pdf

and "Feeding a Family" Game at
http://www.hungernomore.org/childrens_activities/200
2%20edition/activity_6.pdf

and "Stories About Hunger" at
http://www.hungernomore.org/childrens_activities/200
2%20edition/activity_3.pdf

** ** **

A new 40-DAY GUIDE FOR LENT AND EASTER 2004 is now
available from Alternatives for Simple Living.
"Connecting with God, Others, Myself" contains daily
thoughts from Ash Wednesday (February 25) through
Easter Sunday (April 11) for individuals, families
and other small groups. Order on paper for $5 per 50
or make your own copies and pay a royalty of $.05
each.

The text of the guide is available online at
http://www.SimpleLiving.org/Archives/Lent/LentCal2004.html