As a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints I have never participated in Lent. I've heard it talked about and I've had Catholic friends who talked about giving something up but I never really knew what Lent was. Here in Iraq I've found there are many practices that Latter-day Saints don't typically participate in but that can be beneficial and meaningful spiritual experiences. A few weeks ago I decided I was going to participate in Lent. at the time I thought it was only a Catholic thing but I have a friend who is Catholic so I figured he could help me. I later found out that Protestants also celebrate Lent.
In the days preceding Ash Wednesday I was trying to decide what to fast from for the forty days of Lent. On Sunday the preacher at the Episcopal/Lutheran service spoke a little about Lent and said that we shouldn't fast just to suffer but we should fast from things that take us away from God. I tried to think of the things I spend the most time doing and I kept feeling like watching TV was being brought into my mind. I didn't want to fast from TV because WrestleMania is during Lent, but I continually felt like that is what God wanted me to do. The final nudge was when abstaining from TV was one of the things the pastor specifically mentioned in his Ash Wednesday service as a suggestion of things to do during Lent.
After the Ash Wednesday service I returned to work with the ash cross on my forehead. A few people asked me about it and some didn't even know what I meant when I said it was Ash Wednesday. I was feeling really close to God so I just put on my iPod and turned on some worship music and was having a personal worship session when my squad leader walked up and the conversation went something like this:
SL: What is that?
Me: It's Ash Wednesday
SL: What religion are you today? (in a demeaning tone)
ME: I am LDS but I find good in all religions.
SL: But Mormons don't believe in the cross right?
Me: We believe Christ died on the cross for our sins but we don't worship the cross. Personally, I find peace in the cross.
SL: So, drawing that cross on your forehead is against your religion right?
Me: Actually a priest put it there.
SL: Well, separation of church and state right? Where are you now?
Me: Are you saying I have to wash it off?
SL: Yes.
I complied and went immediately to the bathroom and washed it off. I then went to the computer room and Googled soldier Ash Wednesday and came up with multiple articles specifically about how the ash cross is an exception to the uniform policy and one specifically about how soldiers in Middle Eastern combat zones are allowed to wear it even though it may offend the local populace, but, I decided that even if I did send him an email with the articles, it wouldn't put the ashes back on my forehead so I just let it go.
It's kind of late so I'll just skip to today and try to update this every day in the future. Today is Friday, the third day of lent. I am doing a Lent devotional where each day you read a scripture passage, do an activity, then answer a question. Today was on fasting and the activity was to fast from something specific today. I assumed this meant in addition to what I'm already going without for Lent. Normally I would have just done food but since I have a ten mile run tomorrow I didn't think that would be prudent so I did just meat. It was difficult but there are a lot of good foods offered here that don't have meat in them. This is already getting fairly long so I won't put too many details in. Hopefully tomorrow will be more like a regular diary entry.
In the days preceding Ash Wednesday I was trying to decide what to fast from for the forty days of Lent. On Sunday the preacher at the Episcopal/Lutheran service spoke a little about Lent and said that we shouldn't fast just to suffer but we should fast from things that take us away from God. I tried to think of the things I spend the most time doing and I kept feeling like watching TV was being brought into my mind. I didn't want to fast from TV because WrestleMania is during Lent, but I continually felt like that is what God wanted me to do. The final nudge was when abstaining from TV was one of the things the pastor specifically mentioned in his Ash Wednesday service as a suggestion of things to do during Lent.
After the Ash Wednesday service I returned to work with the ash cross on my forehead. A few people asked me about it and some didn't even know what I meant when I said it was Ash Wednesday. I was feeling really close to God so I just put on my iPod and turned on some worship music and was having a personal worship session when my squad leader walked up and the conversation went something like this:
SL: What is that?
Me: It's Ash Wednesday
SL: What religion are you today? (in a demeaning tone)
ME: I am LDS but I find good in all religions.
SL: But Mormons don't believe in the cross right?
Me: We believe Christ died on the cross for our sins but we don't worship the cross. Personally, I find peace in the cross.
SL: So, drawing that cross on your forehead is against your religion right?
Me: Actually a priest put it there.
SL: Well, separation of church and state right? Where are you now?
Me: Are you saying I have to wash it off?
SL: Yes.
I complied and went immediately to the bathroom and washed it off. I then went to the computer room and Googled soldier Ash Wednesday and came up with multiple articles specifically about how the ash cross is an exception to the uniform policy and one specifically about how soldiers in Middle Eastern combat zones are allowed to wear it even though it may offend the local populace, but, I decided that even if I did send him an email with the articles, it wouldn't put the ashes back on my forehead so I just let it go.
It's kind of late so I'll just skip to today and try to update this every day in the future. Today is Friday, the third day of lent. I am doing a Lent devotional where each day you read a scripture passage, do an activity, then answer a question. Today was on fasting and the activity was to fast from something specific today. I assumed this meant in addition to what I'm already going without for Lent. Normally I would have just done food but since I have a ten mile run tomorrow I didn't think that would be prudent so I did just meat. It was difficult but there are a lot of good foods offered here that don't have meat in them. This is already getting fairly long so I won't put too many details in. Hopefully tomorrow will be more like a regular diary entry.
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