Lent and Justice Article
2008 February 13
I have a new article up in the February edition of Next-Wave Ezine entitled Lent and the Pursuit of Justice. Head over there to check it out and to read the other great pieces featured this month.
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julieclawson(at)gmail(dot)com 
Very nice article Julie, It reminds me of course of Isaiah 58:6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?”
Shouldn’t we fast for justice year round? So, I wonder if we should use it as a time to start disciplines that could catch on throughout the year. For instance this year I’m making a concerted effort to use my own shopping bags, to reduce the use of those plastic bags.
I like how you said it: “This was a pursuit of justice that I didn’t abandon as soon as Easter Sunday rolled around, but habits I integrated into my life year-round.”
thanks for the good thoughts,
blessings and peace,
bill
That’s a good article Julie. Like you, I didn’t discover Lent until adulthood despite growing up in the church. Frederica Matthews-Green’s writing on life in the Orthodox Church is where I first encountered a moving description of the season of Lent. Talk about self-denial, take a look at what the Orthodox can’t eat during the Lenten fast! Her description of the symbolic power of that 40 day fast, the services of passion week, followed by the pre-dawn vigil around the darkened church and the bursting forth of light and feasting on Pascha, or Easter, morning, made me want to try it. It sounded much more profound than any protestant Easter celebration I had attended.
The call not only to repentance and self-reflection during Lent in preparation for an Easter Celebration, but to changed ways and efforts to serve and identify with the downtrodden, is a good reminder.
Thanks for that article, Julie – it made me think a lot about my own Lenten journey. Like you, I came late to Lent, and feel like I’m really just now discovering it.
I used your post as inspiration for one of my own, and quoted you in it as well. It’s located here: http://empireremixed.wordpress.com/2008/02/15/lent-for-me-v-lent-for-him/#more-43.