Lent and advertising

Each year, Christians around the world prepare to celebrate Easter by observing Lent. It is a time for fasting, not for fastings sake, or to gain favour from God, but to remind ourselves that as Christians we are to walk alongside Jesus in his passion and journey to the cross. fasting reminds us that our desires aren't set on this current world. Fasting foments our desire for God's kingdom, for the way of suffering to be transformed into the glory of the resurrection.
Now, I guess you could acheive these subjective feelings with otherwise pointless flaggellation, but Jesus suffering was for the sake of love, and ours should be too. In a culture that is consumed by the desire to consume, that prefers the titillation of glitter to the dignity of the poor, we need to remember again the powerful witness of lives that sit lightly to these desires.
So this year I'm giving up advertising for 40 days again. I don't want my desire for stuff artificially stimulated, I don't want to be told I need anything other than God's kingdom. No billboards, no junkmail, no radio ads, no logo's. (If I cant look at your t-shirt, I'll try to look at your eye's)

Part two of my lent strategy is to really enjoy what I already have. i'm already eyeing off that snorkelling gear in the cupboard.

Last year this two part strategy was difficult but strangely liberating, why don't you give it a go too.

Prayer Monday: Loss is indeed our gain

The pushing and shoving of the world is endless
We are pushed and shoved
And we do our fair share of pushing and shoving
in our great anxiety.
And in the middle of that
you have set down your beloved suffering son
who was like a sheep led to slaughter
who opened not his mouth.

We seem not able,
so we ask you to create the spaces for our life
where we may ponder his suffering
and your summons to suffer with him,
suspecting that suffering is the only way to come to newness.

So we pray for your church in these lenten days,
when we are driven to denial-
not to notice the suffering,
not to engage it,
not to acknowledge it.
So be that way of truth among us
that we should not deceive ourselves.
That we should see that loss is indeed our gain.
We give you thanks for that mystery from which we live
Amen

Walter Brueggemann

Lent, Desire and materialism

I'm reading a new book, that I think is one of the best critiques of consumerism, and the most thoughtful and practical christian response to it
(I can't tell you the title yet, for reasons that should become apparent).

Part of his argument centres around the disordering of our desires by the constant 'creation of dissatisfaction' by advertising. Another part accuses consumerism of not being materialist enough! By detatching ourselves from the very material production of our goods, we don't learn to fully appreciate the material things we have.

Now, I know I'm quite late for lent, but hey, better late than never.

So firstly I'm going to attempt, until Easter, to not see or listen to any advertising. In our culture of free speech (but not free silence), it's going to be quite hard.

And secondly, each week I'm going to find one item that I already have, and spend the week enjoying that item as much as I can.

If you aren't doing anything for lent, why not give these a go. Let me know how you go