Contemplative Writing Prompts for Lent: Not

Good morning. You might be expecting a Contemplative Writing Prompt for Lent this morning. But the title of this post—Contemplative Writing Prompts for Lent: Not—tells you what you need to know. I won’t be sending a prompt today, as Sundays are not part of Lent.

We did not practice Lent this way when I was a child. When I was a kid, our Lents were marathons: could I actually survive for 6 weeks without candy? But Lent isn’t about crawling over the finish line on Easter morning and gorging on a chocolate bunny, even if I hated milk chocolate because it was CANDY! No, Lent is about practices designed to heighten our awareness of God.

My then-dean at St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral taught us this theology maybe fifteen years ago. Sundays are feast days. Always. We set aside Sundays to celebrate God in this world. In contrast, Lent is a time of discipline, even if the discipline is as simple as twenty minutes of contemplative writing. (NB: disciplines can be taking-on as well as giving-up; so even though I don’t give-up, my taking-on contemplative writing is a discipline.) On Sundays, we release our disciplines and celebrate God.

Thus today’s post: Contemplative Writing Prompts for Lent: Not. Which doesn’t mean no contemplative writing for today. Contemplative writing is not a religious practice; it need not have anything to do with God; I’m just using it as such this Lent. So if you are drawn today to experience one of the many joyful things contemplative writing does for you, have at it. I know I will.

Happy Sunday!