![My Word for Lent](https://hydeparkumc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/My-Word-for-Lent.png)
![My Word for Lent](https://hydeparkumc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/My-Word-for-Lent.png)
![My Word for Lent](https://hydeparkumc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/My-Word-for-Lent.png)
Dear Lenten Pilgrims,
Last year, I gave up coffee for Lent. It went as you would expect; I found myself longing for Easter resurrection many times.
This year, I’ve decided a different approach. It doesn’t involve giving up something as it does focusing on something. It is captured in a word that I’m claiming as a guide over the next forty days.
Savor.
I’m going to focus as much attention as I can on savoring every aspect of being alive.
- Savoring each conversation.
- Savoring each bite.
- Savoring each breath.
- Savoring each punchline.
- Savoring each sunset.
- Savoring each beautiful day.
- Savoring each ugly day.
- Savoring every sensation of being alive.
Other traditions might call this mindfulness. It is a focus on the present that counters grief (which pulls us into the past) and fear (which pulls us into the future.) Savoring is a spiritual companion to gratitude, since one cannot be thankful without pausing, and pausing is an invitation to savoring.
In a way, I guess I am giving up something for Lent after all.
- Giving up hurriedness.
- Giving up envy.
- Giving up shame.
- Giving up boredom.
- Giving up excess.
- Giving up selfishness.
- Giving up distractions.
- Giving up life as usual, to gain life as God intends.
I’ll see how it goes. And yes, I’ll be savoring every sip of coffee.
Grace and Peace,
![eec05210-8ba0-43a8-9679-479c65f8ee36](https://hydeparkumc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/eec05210-8ba0-43a8-9679-479c65f8ee36.png)
![eec05210-8ba0-43a8-9679-479c65f8ee36](https://hydeparkumc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/eec05210-8ba0-43a8-9679-479c65f8ee36.png)
Senior Pastor, Hyde Park United Methodist