Dear Friends,
I am trying to be more courageous. I believe courage is a much-needed but under-appreciated virtue and during Lent this year I am taking a couple actions that, I hope, will strengthen me on my quest for courage.
First, I am going to try to fast one day a week. Fasting is an ancient spiritual practice that people do for all sorts of reasons, some of them good and some not so much, but my reasons for a weekly fast have to do with trying to remind myself that I have more than I need.
A few months ago, while preparing for a medical exam of the sort one starts receiving after one’s fiftieth birthday, I was required to abstain from eating for twenty four hours, and the idea of being hungry for that long scared me. And then I fasted, endured the procedure, and discovered that I had no reason to fear. I survived twenty four hours of not eating just fine.
This is something I need to remember. With three meals a day plus snacks, I’m a long way from starvation, and what is true for me nutritionally probably is true for me in other areas of my life. Provided my loved ones are safe, I can lose a lot of stuff before things start getting serious.
This is a truth I sometimes forget when I feel compelled to speak out or act upon issues and ideas that matter to me. I get worried about what I might lose if I anger the wrong people, or if I get arrested in a protest. This fear has not exactly silenced me over the years—I’ve preached on and written about a lot of very controversial issues and ideas—but my worries have kept me awake at night, and I’ve decided that a good night’s sleep is worth quite a bit.
So my weekly fast, I hope, will remind me that a lot can be taken from me before I really have to worry.
The other courage-related action I’m taking during Lent is that I’m going off social media between Ash Wednesday and the feast of the resurrection. I have been battling a fear-of-rejection based case of writer’s block, and social media—with their siren song of escape into the echo chamber of like-minded provocation—help me avoid doing the writing necessary to overcome that particular annoyance.
So I ask for your prayers as I try to live with more courage and I invite you to join me in seeking ways to live more courageously this Lent.
God’s Peace,
Ben