The clear plastic egg rack is empty right now and it mocks me whenever I open the refrigerator door. <\/p>\n\n
The drawer that usually contains bacon, sausages, lunchmeat and chicken is full of flour tortillas. I still haven\u2019t thought of what to put in the three cheese slots. The butter has gone AWOL, too, unless you count apple butter. <\/p>\n\n
This is Great Lent and in million of homes the cooks are in a state of shock. <\/p>\n\n
For Eastern Orthodox believers, Lent began all the way back on Sunday, Feb. 25, with the candlelight Forgiveness Vespers. Thus, my family is striving to follow the ancient Christian fasting traditions that ask us to shun meat and dairy products until Pascha (Easter) on April 15. This year, the Eastern and Western church calendars happen to be on the same page, which means that for Western churches Lent began with Ash Wednesday on Feb. 28. <\/p>\n\n
There is more to Lent than the ritual avoidance of certain foods, forcing us to become one with our fruits and veggies. This is supposed to be a season of prayer, confession and intense worship. Lent is not a diet. <\/p>\n\n
And many observe the season in different ways. Some Western believers, such as Roman Catholics and Episcopalians, elect to give up a specific pleasure, such as candy or soft drinks. Some go much further and surrender meat or caffeine. Others, in the East and the West, may add modern twists. A friend of mine gave up email, one year. Some families give up television. Of course, the vast majority of churchgoers \u2014 even in the ancient churches \u2014 totally ignore Lent. <\/p>\n\n
But for those who try to embrace the most traditional disciplines, this is when we venture outside of our culinary comfort zones, way out into tofu territory. Following this kind of fast isn\u2019t easy in America. This isn\u2019t Greece, where you know who offers a fast-food \u201cMcLent\u201d menu. <\/p>\n\n
Do the math. Let\u2019s say that your house contains a boy under the age of 10. If you give up all meat and dairy, this means you will not be eating cheese. This means you will not be eating macaroni and cheese. Got the picture? Of course, the church isn\u2019t asking us to sacrifice the health of our children, requiring them to stop drinking milk. Still, this is a time for radical changes. <\/p>\n\n
But why place such an emphasis on food? Does anyone really think it\u2019s spiritually better to eat dark chocolate (no milk) than to eat milk chocolate? Some people forgo steaks or fried chicken, but eat their weight in forms of seafood that are allowed during the fast, such as shrimp or clams. It would not be a Lenten discipline to eat lobster every day. <\/p>\n\n
A priest I know faces a unique temptation. He has a deep and abiding passion for peanut butter, a substance the Orthodox tend to see a lot of during Lent. He would happily eat peanut butter several times a day. Now, is this good or is it a temptation? Perhaps it would be a better spiritual test for him to give up peanut butter instead of real butter. Go figure. <\/p>\n\n
The bottom line is that the saints and apostles agree that human appetites matter. In the early church, St. Paul preached against the sinful ways of those whose \u201cend is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.\u201d But the Bible also warns believers not to turn ancient spiritual disciplines into showy gestures, planting seeds of pride and arrogance. Finding that balance can be tricky. <\/p>\n\n
Still, it\u2019s good to open the refrigerator door and ask the question: Who\u2019s in charge here? This is an issue that comes up in other ancient faiths, as well. <\/p>\n\n
As an Orthodox Jewish friend of mine once said: \u201cGod wants to be in my refrigerator, too. If God isn\u2019t in \u2026 my refrigerator, then He isn\u2019t in charge of the rest of my life. If God isn\u2019t the God of my refrigerator, then He isn\u2019t the God of my check book, or my Day Timer, or my television or any of the other things that try to run my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The clear plastic egg rack is empty right now and it mocks me whenever I open the refrigerator door. The drawer that usually contains bacon, sausages, lunchmeat and chicken is full of flour tortillas. I still haven\u2019t thought of what to put in the three cheese slots. The butter has gone AWOL, too, unless you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n