Lent 2016 - 40 Acts

So, since Lent is a Thing, and I have been a terribly lax blogger of late, I am going, yet again, to try and get into the swing of it and join the folks at 40 Acts in doing 40 things before Easter.  You get Sundays off, is Tradition.

Today is about circles.  I have sketched mine as suggested.

V. sketchy, back-of-envelope styley.

And what it shows me is that my life is firmly based around Scottish Dance.  Which shouldn't be that surprising, and isn't.  It does emphasise how my family is largely removed from my everyday life.  That's what living 500 miles away and being replaced by foster children will do for a person.  That's what happens when siblings grown up and grow into different life seasons at different rates.  That's what happens when your conservative christian relatives don't know what to do with your same-sex fiancée.

I have been able to keep some friends from our previous church, but only really because we do other things together as well.  Current church is super-supportive.  Friends in other circles are supportive too, even if they can't figure out which name belongs to which of us.

I am also thinking of attempting a buy-nothing Lent, even though I am not prone to much excessive buying, but I haven't figured out the rules yet.

Now to go pray for all my circles and think of ways to practice generosity to them...

Everyone's in there.

This Sunday was Easter Sunday.  I was in the singing group so wound up sat at the front, all keen-like.

And the scripture was, unsurprisingly, John's account of the resurrection.  And we were asked to consider why Mary was crying.  She cried for the death of her friend (who is a saviour if not a friend of sinners).  She cried because his body was not there.  In that, I think perhaps she cried for herself.  She had been deprived of the touchstone for her grief.  If we deal with death by dealing with our dead (which I hope we do) then not having a body to grieve over hampers our grieving.  Like the families of soldiers blown to smithereens in the trenches, where there wasn't enough to identify or bury.  Like the friends of teenagers who disappeared and were never heard of again.  Like the relatives of the victims of the recent air crash and ferry capsizing.

It is good to notice when experiences or people we can relate to show up in the Bible.  And I like to think that we are all included in there without too many stretches of the imagination.  Of course, I also like to stretch my imagination.

Realisations

I don't remember how old I was.  It must have been sometime while I was in primary school (because I think I thought I was too grown up to be put to bed way before I reached secondary school, aged 11) and it is likely to have been pretty early on, given the Bible passage in question is in Exodus.  So perhaps we are talking about 8 or 9 years old.

Anyway, my Dad and I used to read a chapter of the Bible every night before I went to sleep (and a chapter of what ever my storybook was at the time, but that's not really on topic).  We started at the beginning and before we gave it up I'm pretty sure we made it to Psalms or Proverbs or something.  At the relevant time we read Exodus, specifically the part with the plagues, in particular chapters 11 and 12 with the plague of death on all the firstborn.

And that's when I realised.  I was the eldest of my parents' 3 children.  Which meant I was their firstborn.  If God had decided to 'go through the land of South-East England' without warning, I would be the one to expire.  I really identified with the victims of this plague, who by virtue of being big brothers and big sisters met their doom.

And that's when I realised or, more likely given my age, was told - I would have been safe.  I wasn't a son, so I didn't count.  I remember feeling a peculiar mixture of relief, survivor's guilt and anger at being discounted by my gender.

I think that has remained with me.  I think that there's still an undercurrent within churches that discounts women purely because of their gender.  So many times I have seen women with incredible gifts and skills being shunted into children's work or other 'soft' ministries, regardless of their suitability for them.  So many times I have heard women report that opportunities to serve and lead only really opened up to them in church once they were married.  So many times I have heard a woman being introduced when preaching (thank God that they were allowed to preach) with a note of whose wife they were.  So many times I have heard casual and unthinking sexism from the front of church.  So many times my concerns about that have been dismissed.

So I'm trying to get past that.  I know that I am a tall, strong, independent woman.  I know God made me that way and I'm trying to believe that his church can figure out what to do with me.  I'm trying not to be defensive, or jump to concluding that everything is a slight.  Perhaps I'll get there.

Lent 2014 - Days 4 & 5

Quick round-up for the weekend, because for some reason it's harder to take full-length pictures of oneself while out and about.

Flat discipline

Friday's tea was a big bowl of stir-fried vegetables as planned.  In fact, I made so much that I didn't even bother adding noodles.

Saturday wound up being dinner out before a cinema date, so I had a prawn salad to constitute my weekly seafood but remain fairly simple.

Sunday, while officially a rest-day was an absolute win!  We had Thai fishcakes (which had been intended for Saturday tea, so I feel they still ought to count for something) and I cubed some of the vegetables from the vegbox - turnip, carrot, parsnip and potato - parboiled them and then roasted about a third (because I'd managed to over-estimate vegetable volume again).  I also flung together some stir-fried baby sweetcorn (supplementary vegetable) with a head of kale in sweet chilli sauce.  Mmm-mm!  I think I may have solved the distressing issue of receiving a whole turnip every fortnight - roast it!  We still gave away last week's turnip as I've only just broken into the one from three weeks ago, but I feel like we might have a chance of getting through this one under the right circumstances.  Those circumstances probably don't include being away for the weekend this weekend, but never mind.

Lone discipline

Saturday:  I wore Flared Jeans (item 6) again, with a Floral Skater dress (item 7) and a Cabled hoodie (Item 8) and hiking trainers for pootling about in town

Sunday:  I wore my Flared denim skirt (item 10) with a white Peasant T-shirt (item 9, also exchanged for the lambswool jumper on Thursday to allow me to go dancing on Thursday night) and a pink striped sweatshirt (item 11) for church followed by a jaunt to a castle and a tower.  I also had on cream tights and my brown leather boots.  I accessorised with a stone cross necklace but nowt else.

I may add thoughts on these items when they get out again, now they're in the magic 30 they doubtless will.

Lent 2014

So, last thing on Tuesday night, as I was leaving work to head for pancakes after tea, someone asked me what, if anything, I was doing for Lent this year.  Now, I grew up in an independent church environment where having liturgical seasons or a church calendar was somewhat frowned upon as being legalistic, so I didn't observe Lent as a child.  I was also a bit wary of the way people would give up chocolate or tea as it seemed rather tokenistic and about their achievement rather than discipline and contemplation (of course, this view might have been coloured by my love of chocolate).

But my colleague was talking about giving up plastic.  About being more aware of her footprint on the earth.  And we got into a discussion about how ubiquitous plastic is and how a Lenten discipline shouldn't inconvenience others if at all possible.  I like the idea of giving up disposables but wasn't in time to get my head around it for Lent this year, so I had to keep thinking.  And now I think I have a couple of Lenten disciplines that I will be engaging in.

In concert with my flatmate

We will eat more simply.  This will involve endeavouring to make use of all the produce in our fortnightly organic vegetable delivery (without too much moaning about the sheer quantity of cabbage and turnip/swede this involves) and try to eat meat only once a week, likewise fish.

Sundays are traditionally feast days when you get a day off your discipline and in the spirit of not inconveniencing others, we won't make a fuss when we are visiting our friends as is our habit of a Sunday.  Midweek dinners are usually made and eaten at home, so there's no issue there and we can have our meat/fish nights on the days when we expect company.

Lone discipline

I want to think about my consumption and have decided to do this specifically in regard to my wardrobe.  So I won't be buying any new clothes/shoes/accessories until Easter.  And I am going to keep a log of what I wear, attempting to keep myself to 30 items of clothing but trying not to just cycle the same outfits round and around.

Exclusions

Underwear and hosiery - nuff said
Costumes/uniforms - if someone else decides what I am wearing (or I decide for a group what we will be wearing) those items don't count
Activity-specific items - swimwear, dance shoes

Undecided categories

Footwear - I don't think there are that many pairs of footwear in my regular rotation, but there's something about not being strict enough with my guidelines that worries me, like this should be a real challenge or sacrifice.  However, for the sake of my feet (which, after all, didn't sign up for this) I think I will observe but not restrict my footwear choices.
Outerwear - I think this is mostly determined by the weather so shouldn't be counted.  I'll observe but not restrict as above.