Is Lent just all about talking all about Lent?
Mack Hall

When I first encountered Lent, about fifty years ago, the first thing I ever heard about it was that it is not about giving up things. Every Lent for the past fifty years have heard the same preachment: Lent is not about giving up things.

Given this record, was there ever, in the history of Christendom, anyone who actually said that Lent was about giving up things?

Lent is a subject for much serious study and life experience, and I am not qualified in the matter. However, if any expression of Lenten discipline or remembrance involves giving up stuff, I recommend giving up any of these things that compromise both sacred and profane occasions:

Liturgical dance. What next? Liturgical synchronized swimming?

Little bits of green weeds on scrambled eggs at breakfast.

Patronizing teenagers with such phrases as "reaching the young people where they are." Don't condescend to kids. Just talk straight to them.

Soccer ball stickers and dancer stickers on the back windows of SUVs. The 1980s are over.

Forming exploratory committees.

We really should consider giving up the death penalty - except for the men who claim to be the father/s of Anna Nicole Something's baby.

Power-Point presentations.

Holding hands during the Our Father. This practice is long overdue for joining the bongo drums and love beads in the dumpster.

Global warming hysteria, which is to science what standing on the roof and waiting for space ships during Y2K was to faith.

Enneagrams. Human beings are not defined by intersecting lines on pieces of paper.

The television movie about the lovelorn astronaut that is surely already in production. And, say, were Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock more than just friends?

Starting Mardi Gras before the Christmas gifts are unwrapped.

Let's also give up talking about the fact that Lent is not about giving up things. And if anyone asks you what you're giving up for Lent, tell 'em you're giving up going to church.

Mack Hall is a resident of Kirbyville