{"id":491,"date":"2012-03-02T04:00:46","date_gmt":"2012-03-02T09:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/?p=491"},"modified":"2012-03-01T05:40:30","modified_gmt":"2012-03-01T10:40:30","slug":"patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/2012\/03\/patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent\/","title":{"rendered":"Patheos Peeps: Brian McLaren on Adding Something During Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Every Friday, I post a link to a blog post written by one of my fellow bloggers at Patheos, a web portal devoted to religion and spirituality. I encourage my blog readers to click through to read these posts, comment, and if you like what you read, follow these bloggers as well<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On his \u201cNaked Theology\u201d blog hosted by the Patheos Progressive Christian Portal, theologian Brian McLaren ponders adding something of value<\/a> to our routines during Lent, rather than giving something up. This is an increasingly popular approach to our penitential season, as I have noticed in my own church. One of my pastors wrote in her monthly newsletter column about the discipline of \u201ctaking on\u201d rather than \u201cgiving up.\u201d For our church-wide Lenten book study, we are reading my editor Jana Riess\u2019s excellent book Flunking Sainthood<\/a>: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor<\/em>, which chronicles Jana\u2019s year-long experiment in taking on traditional spiritual disciplines.<\/p>\n

McLaren\u2019s post puts a fresh spin on the idea of \u201ctaking on\u201d rather than \u201cgiving up,\u201d noting that adding a new practice to your days will likely have the beneficial side effect of forcing you to give up other things to make time for the new practice. Those other things might include, for example, mindless television watching or web surfing. McLaren plans to read through all four Gospels, and to resume a journaling practice\u2014writing with an actual pen on actual paper to force himself to slow down and contemplate his words more fully.<\/p>\n

I especially appreciated the way McLaren uses humor to make important points about what we tend to give up for Lent and why. He asks, \u201cWhy is God so anti-chocolate, for example? Is food only for nourishment and corporate profit, and not for enjoyment? (Similarly, is sex only for procreation and creating campaign issues?)\u201d He wonders, \u201cWhich is worse, during Lent or otherwise: to indulge in a slice of devil\u2019s food cake slathered in icing, or to buy a tomato that was harvested by workers that some grocery chains still won\u2019t assure a fair wage?\u201d and then goes on:<\/p>\n

Of course, we questioners can even manage to get cynical about our own cynicism, because often, we who raise questions like these go ahead and have both the slice of cake and<\/em> the tomato, and then we write about it on computers manufactured with conflict minerals!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can read McLaren\u2019s entire post here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every Friday, I post a link to a blog post written by one of my fellow bloggers at Patheos, a web portal devoted to religion and spirituality. I encourage my blog readers to click through to read these posts, comment, and if you like what you read, follow these bloggers as well. On his \u201cNaked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":424,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[44,80,36,72,42],"class_list":["post-491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christianity","tag-disciplines","tag-god","tag-lent","tag-patheos-peeps"],"yoast_head":"\nPatheos Peeps: Brian McLaren on Adding Something During Lent<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Every Friday, I post a link to a blog post written by one of my fellow bloggers at Patheos, a web portal devoted to religion and spirituality. I encourage\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/2012\/03\/patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Patheos Peeps: Brian McLaren on Adding Something During Lent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every Friday, I post a link to a blog post written by one of my fellow bloggers at Patheos, a web portal devoted to religion and spirituality. I encourage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/2012\/03\/patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ellen Painter Dollar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-02T09:00:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-03-01T10:40:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ellen Painter Dollar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ellen Painter Dollar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/2012\/03\/patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/2012\/03\/patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent\/\",\"name\":\"Patheos Peeps: Brian McLaren on Adding Something During Lent\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-02T09:00:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-03-01T10:40:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/#\/schema\/person\/5d74c32056fbb89f80f882bf65f46ed4\"},\"description\":\"Every Friday, I post a link to a blog post written by one of my fellow bloggers at Patheos, a web portal devoted to religion and spirituality. I encourage\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/2012\/03\/patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/2012\/03\/patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/2012\/03\/patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Patheos Peeps: Brian McLaren on Adding Something During Lent\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/\",\"name\":\"Ellen Painter Dollar\",\"description\":\"Parenthood, disability, ethics, and the crooked way of grace\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/#\/schema\/person\/5d74c32056fbb89f80f882bf65f46ed4\",\"name\":\"Ellen Painter Dollar\",\"description\":\"Ellen Painter Dollar is a writer focusing on faith, parenting, family, disability, and ethics. She is the author of No Easy Choice: A Story of Disability, Faith, and Parenthood in an Age of Advanced Reproduction (Westminster John Knox, 2012). Visit her web site at http:\/\/ellenpainterdollar.com for more on her writing and speaking, and to sign up for a (very) occasional email newsletter.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.ellenpainterdollar.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/author\/ellenpainterdollar\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Patheos Peeps: Brian McLaren on Adding Something During Lent","description":"Every Friday, I post a link to a blog post written by one of my fellow bloggers at Patheos, a web portal devoted to religion and spirituality. I encourage","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/2012\/03\/patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Patheos Peeps: Brian McLaren on Adding Something During Lent","og_description":"Every Friday, I post a link to a blog post written by one of my fellow bloggers at Patheos, a web portal devoted to religion and spirituality. I encourage","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/2012\/03\/patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent\/","og_site_name":"Ellen Painter Dollar","article_published_time":"2012-03-02T09:00:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-03-01T10:40:30+00:00","author":"Ellen Painter Dollar","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ellen Painter Dollar","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/2012\/03\/patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/2012\/03\/patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent\/","name":"Patheos Peeps: Brian McLaren on Adding Something During Lent","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-03-02T09:00:46+00:00","dateModified":"2012-03-01T10:40:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/#\/schema\/person\/5d74c32056fbb89f80f882bf65f46ed4"},"description":"Every Friday, I post a link to a blog post written by one of my fellow bloggers at Patheos, a web portal devoted to religion and spirituality. I encourage","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/2012\/03\/patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/2012\/03\/patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/2012\/03\/patheos-peeps-brian-mclaren-on-adding-something-during-lent\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Patheos Peeps: Brian McLaren on Adding Something During Lent"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/","name":"Ellen Painter Dollar","description":"Parenthood, disability, ethics, and the crooked way of grace","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/#\/schema\/person\/5d74c32056fbb89f80f882bf65f46ed4","name":"Ellen Painter Dollar","description":"Ellen Painter Dollar is a writer focusing on faith, parenting, family, disability, and ethics. She is the author of No Easy Choice: A Story of Disability, Faith, and Parenthood in an Age of Advanced Reproduction (Westminster John Knox, 2012). Visit her web site at http:\/\/ellenpainterdollar.com for more on her writing and speaking, and to sign up for a (very) occasional email newsletter.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.ellenpainterdollar.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/author\/ellenpainterdollar\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/424"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/ellenpainterdollar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}