What is the season of Lent, where did it come from and why is it important? Do you know the most popular things to give up during Lent? You might be surprised by how some people practice this special season.
Compass co-hosts Ryan and Michelle share their Lenten experiences and some ideas about how we all can encounter deeper connection and spiritual meaning during this special time of year.
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Episode Notes
Ryan used ChatGPT to generate the sample Lenten history script in the voices of Eddie Munson and Wednesday Addams.
The 2022 list of things people give up, according to Twitter, was assembled by OpenBible.
Related episodes
- What is Lent about?
- Doubt and deconstruction with AJ Swoboda
- Making any moment a holy moment
- Diving deeper with Lent spiritual practices
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This episode posted on February 22, 2023
Episode Transcript:
Ryan Dunn:
This is the Compass Podcast where we disrupt the everyday with glimpses of the divine. Hello, friend. My name is Ryan Dunn.
Michelle Maldonado:
Hi, Michelle Maldonado here.
Ryan Dunn:
And hey, Michelle. We're going to talk about Lent as this is rolling out on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent in 2023. Was Lent a big part of your faith formation growing up?
Michelle Maldonado:
It's interesting that you mentioned that because it's very different for the Latino community, especially Protestants. Our way of approaching Lent is very different in the sense that we don't typically do some of things that our Anglo brothers and sisters do, like giving up things. It's associated more with Catholicism, so that's why there's a big disconnect there. Or even the ash cross on the forehead. It's not something we typically do. I remember the first time I saw a Protestant church too, that was like, "Ooh, interesting. It's really cool."
Ryan Dunn:
Yeah. Interesting though, right? I feel like Lent is the strangest of Christian seasons just because we have these weird, unique practices around it. The way that we practice it today, it's pulled together from a number of different traditions and we're going to get into all of that. In fact, we're going to explore the history of Lent, but also explore some ways that we can use this Lenten season according to its purpose, which is kind of like what we set out to do with this podcast, which is to disrupt the everyday with some divine type experiences or some spiritual experiences, which Lent, I think, in its essence is really the purpose of the season. So of course, for those who don't know, Lent is the 40-ish days leading up to Easter, and I say 40-ish because we don't count the Sundays in there, and it's just meant to be a time of reflection and pulling out of the world and into ourselves spiritually.
But I wanted to kick off this episode and just laying out like a history of Lent, exploring where it came from, and certainly, there are a lot of materials online. We've already written about it at unc.org. And so, actually, what I did in order to make it just a little bit more entertaining of a history lesson was I took that script and I took it to an AI chatbot, and I asked it to turn it into a two-person podcast episode, short brief history of Lent in the Voice of Gen-Zers. And then when I read the script, it actually didn't seem all that different than how we normally talk, so I decided that we needed to assume some characters. So pulling on our fascination with Netflix, I pulled out the two most searched Netflix characters of the past year, and that would be Eddie Munson and Wednesday Addams. And so Michelle and I have agreed to share for you the AI-generated history of Lent podcast script read in the voices of Eddie Munson and Wednesday Addams. You ready to drop some serious history, Michelle?
Michelle Maldonado:
I'm ready. I can't guarantee I won't break out laughing in between, so.
Ryan Dunn:
Yeah, then I even asked it, the AI, to throw in a few other Easter eggs, so to speak. So be on your toes, listen for those. Some of them make sense, some of them are just head-scratchers, so you can pull those out on your own, but let's get into this. I am going to roll some music here. I feel like we need to set the tone for this. So here we go. The history of Lent according to AI in Gen Z Eddie Munson and Wednesday Addams.
Yo, yo, yo. Welcome back to Gen Z Unplugged. I'm Eddie Munson. Today, we're talking about the Christian season of what? Yo!
Michelle Maldonado:
How morbidly delightful.
Ryan Dunn:
Well done.
Michelle Maldonado:
Thank you.
Ryan Dunn:
Carry on.
Michelle Maldonado:
Well, if you're watching the video on YouTube, I'm looking down over through... You know, the Wednesday stare.
Ryan Dunn:
She's in full character.
Michelle Maldonado:
And I'm wearing black. Okay, and scene. Lent is a time of reflection and renewal observed by many Christians, especially Catholics, but where did this tradition come from and what does it mean for us today?
Ryan Dunn:
Dude, the history of Lent can be traced back to the early days of the Christian church. It was originally a time for new converts to prepare for baptism and it was observed as a period of fasting and penitence, man.
Michelle Maldonado:
Indeed. Lent became a time for Christians to reflect on their faith and deepen their spiritual lives. It's a time to focus on self-improvement and growing closer to deity, much like Mariah Carey singing, "All I want for Christmas is you."
Ryan Dunn:
Yes. Yeah. For many people, that means giving up certain luxuries or vices for the 40 days of Lent is a symbol of sacrifice and self-discipline. This can be anything from sweets to social media, bro. It's like Ariana Grande saying, "No tears left to cry," and, "Leaving our vices behind."
Michelle Maldonado:
Precisely. It's not just about giving up things, but also about adding things to your life that help you grow closer to deity. This can mean reading scripture, attending [inaudible 00:06:02] services, or volunteering at a soup kitchen. It's like Justin Bieber saying, "Holy," and focusing on the things that bring us closer to deity.
Ryan Dunn:
And for those of us who are big foodies, giving up our favorite foods for Lent can be tough, man. Just remember, it's only for 40 days, which is like one eighth of the year or one third of a Justin Bieber album. Oh! Hey, I burn.
Michelle Maldonado:
Dang!
Ryan Dunn:
And scene.
Michelle Maldonado:
Absolutely. Lent is also a time to remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. By giving up things for 40 days, we're reminded of the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made for us, like Taylor Swift singing Lover and remembering the love that Jesus has for us.
Ryan Dunn:
That's deep. And it's important to remember that Lent is not just about sacrifice, but also about joy and hope. We're preparing for the celebration of Easter when we'll celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the new life we have in Him, bro. It's like Bruno Mars singing 24K Magic and celebrating the new life we have in Jesus.
Michelle Maldonado:
I'm never hearing that song the same way again.
Ryan Dunn:
Deep theology from the AI.
Michelle Maldonado:
That is correct. No matter how you choose to observe Lent, whether it's through fasting, prayer, or acts of service, the important thing is to focus on growing closer to deity and becoming a better person, much like Ed Sheeran singing Shape of You and becoming the best version of yourself.
Ryan Dunn:
Yes, yes. We've got a whole Lent playlist coming out here. All right, that's it for today. Thanks for tuning in to Gen Z Unplugged. Join us next time for more discussions about faith, culture, and life. Later, bro!
Michelle Maldonado:
Farewell.
Ryan Dunn:
And! Man, AI with the deep fakes, I think, on some of those song references. Well done, though. I don't know how appropriate those were. I mean appropriate in terms of like are they really relevant, or was it just tossing that in there just to, I don't know, lay out some Gen Z cred? I have no idea. So hopefully, despite the mystifying song references, that clears up some of where our Lenten season comes from. It still, though, strikes me, Michelle, that Lent is somewhat of an odd season, and particularly, I think about the way that it begins with Ash Wednesday, the whole laying on of the ashes on the forehead thing and marking that as such a solemn way. And when you receive the ashes on your forehead, a lot of times, whoever is applying those ashes gives you some kind of a blessing or word of warning, I guess, that right goes to the tune of, "This is a reminder that from dust you came and to dust, you shall return."
Or a reminder of our own mortality, which, I don't know, it feels like a little bit of a strange tradition in something that we include in such a time of celebration as we lead up towards Easter. And maybe that's where my unease about Lent comes from and it's that Easter is so celebratory and yet Lent is so solemn and lost in the self-denial. As weird as the laying on of ashes might seem, there are actually some other out there Lent traditions. So besides talking to the AI bot, Michelle, I combed the internet for some just strange traditions. Well, at least strange to us, some unique or peculiar traditions from around the world about how people treat or move through the Lent season. One of the ones that I found is that in Croatia, they burn a human size wooden doll. It's called a fast nick, and it-
Michelle Maldonado:
Interesting.
Ryan Dunn:
Yes. Yeah. Burning somebody in effigy. It represents their immoral and mischievous acts of the past year. So they're burning those-
Michelle Maldonado:
I feel like Wednesday Addams would absolutely be about that.
Ryan Dunn:
Absolutely. Yes. Yeah. In Ukraine, they have a tradition called the Leaky Peace or the Great Fasting, and it's one of the four fasting periods of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It's still strictly practiced in some rural areas, not so much in the more metropolitan areas, but on the first day of Lent, nothing hot is allowed to be cooked or eaten, no breakfast is served, and actually, until the second week of Lent, they encourage young people to stay home and not meet others in the streets. Just the young people, for some reason.
Michelle Maldonado:
A little social butterflies.
Ryan Dunn:
Yeah, I don't know. Too much fun in merry making. You got to put their limits on that during the Lent season. In Armenia, which, did you know that according to the internet, Armenia is the oldest Christian country in the world?
Michelle Maldonado:
Huh? I had no idea.
Ryan Dunn:
I had no idea either. And I'm not sure what constitutes a Christian country per se. Maybe that just means that they have an official state religion or something. I'm not sure, but according to the internet, that's what it says. In Armenia, they draw the curtains on the churches to hide the altars to express grievance, and many orthodox Christians no longer observe a full Lent, which means that they no longer abstain from meat, poultry, or dairy products. But it's still pretty common for restaurants to roll out special menus during the season of Lent, and that actually makes Orthodox destinations a paradise for vegans during Lent.
Michelle Maldonado:
Wow! That's cool. Reminds me of how McDonald's over here has their... What is it? The fish filet?
Ryan Dunn:
Yeah, the Filet-O-Fish.
Michelle Maldonado:
The Filet-O-Fish.
Ryan Dunn:
Right. Which I would want to see, do their sales really go up on Filet-O-Fish? Especially on Fridays. Isn't that a traditional Catholic practice to give up meat on Fridays through Lent? Well, speaking of state religions, when Christianity became the state religion in Rome in the fourth century, the 40-day Lenten fast included compulsory three-hour a day instruction classes before baptism on the eve Easter. And as part of those, I guess, compulsory times, the Lenten observance in those days was a strict only one meal a day, and that came near evening, and it could not include any animal products.
So for those of us who think veganism is this newfangled new agey thing, it's dropping all the way back. Well, and I'm sure it goes even farther back in any other fake traditions, but yeah. Okay, now we get into the morbid. Here we go, Wednesday Addams. In the Philippines, there is a group of men who walk barefoot through the streets while fogging themselves on Good Friday. That actually is a longstanding tradition in other parts of the world as well. It's just not so much practice today, but you hear about medieval times when people in Europe would walk through the streets and do the same thing. But not to be outdone, there's a Filipino man who has endured actual crucifixion on Good Friday for 30 years running. I think he may have stopped at this point, but he did it for 30 years running. He would have actors drive four-inch nails through his hands and feet in a dramatic reenactment of the crucifixion.
Michelle Maldonado:
I did see a documentary a long time ago where they did show that guy and the whole process and it's brutal. It's brutal watching it, so you can only imagine what Jesus actually went through, which is a thousand times worse.
Ryan Dunn:
Absolutely, yeah. But this fellow chose to do it for 30 years running. Some hardcore faith expression at that. Well, those are some of the weird to us traditions that are out there, and I feel like, I don't know, sometimes, especially if you've been practicing Lent for a long time, you get a little creative in some of the things that you yourself practice. Have you ever done anything strange for Lent, giving up anything weird? Or what is the weirdest thing that you've ever given up for Lent?
Michelle Maldonado:
Weird is such a subjective word, but-
Ryan Dunn:
Oh, totally. Yeah. Well, I mean in that whole list that I just gave out, those are weird practices to us, but could be really normative to the people exposed to them all the time.
Michelle Maldonado:
Probably the, quote, unquote, "weirdest" practice I've done is the washing of the feet at church, where everybody lines up and they take turns either having their feet washed or washing somebody else's feet. So I say weird is subjective, because to some people, they get that symbolic act of service, but the other half's going to be like, "Ew! Touching some random person's feet."
Ryan Dunn:
Right.
Michelle Maldonado:
Which I'm kind of in that camp, but I understand the symbolics of it, but at the same time, I don't want to touch somebody's feet.
Ryan Dunn:
Yeah. Well, and I think about if this was your first time setting foot into a particular church in that service, that would be out there like, "Oh, they're up to some strange rituals in this part of the woods, I see." Do you give up things for Lent, or have you ever in the past?
Michelle Maldonado:
No, I've never given up anything. It's not a tradition that I grew up with, so it doesn't come natural to me. I really have to go out of my way, which is the point, to give up something. I've always toyed with giving up Coca-Cola, which I am a Coca-Cola drinker. A very regular-
Ryan Dunn:
This is the year though, isn't it, Michelle? You still have time because-
Michelle Maldonado:
I know.
Ryan Dunn:
You were just complaining that it's off to $8 of a case.
Michelle Maldonado:
Yes, I know. Yep. This might be the year, but I wanted it-
Ryan Dunn:
Save yourself some dollars.
Michelle Maldonado:
To come from my heart rather than in my pocket.
Ryan Dunn:
Oh, okay.
Michelle Maldonado:
You know?
Ryan Dunn:
Yeah, that's the lure. Sometimes people use it as an excuse to go on a diet or something that in the end, that can be missing the point because the purpose of fasting really is to remove something from our lives so that we can turn our attention towards the divine. What did Wednesday Addams call it? Towards deity. I'm like, "Oh, [inaudible 00:17:33]."
Michelle Maldonado:
Towards deity.
Ryan Dunn:
Maybe that'll be our new tagline instead of the, "Experiencing the spirit or the divine in the everyday," we're going to experience deity in the everyday.
Michelle Maldonado:
Thanks, Wednesday.
Ryan Dunn:
Yeah. Yeah. I like it. It has a nice ring. Well, I also cruised across Twitter. Well, actually, I cruised across an aggregate site for Twitter that pulled together last year's top 100 things that people give up for Lent. Any ideas on what number one is?
Michelle Maldonado:
Alcohol?
Ryan Dunn:
You are correct. It is alcohol. Yeah. Yeah. You want to go for the top five? You're on a roll. You already got alcohol. What do you think number two is?
Michelle Maldonado:
Probably smoking.
Ryan Dunn:
It is not.
Michelle Maldonado:
Oh, really?
Ryan Dunn:
Oh, oops. I was only looking at the top 50. Yeah, I'm not seeing it in the top 100.
Michelle Maldonado:
That's interesting.
Ryan Dunn:
Guess Twitter either doesn't smoke or they want to hang out with their cigarettes. Number two, it's actually a very meta answer. The number two thing to abstain from during Lent according to Twitter is Twitter.
Michelle Maldonado:
Anyway, that makes sense. Yeah, I have seen an uptick of wanting to give up social media.
Ryan Dunn:
Yeah, that's actually number three then. So Twitter somehow sets itself apart in that people on Twitter want to give up Twitter, and then they take the step down of like, "Oh, I'm going hardcore and just giving up social media altogether.: Number four is also a very meta answering kind of a trach way. What do you think number four is for things that people give up during Lent, according to Twitter?
Michelle Maldonado:
Cursing?
Ryan Dunn:
No, cursing is number eight.
Michelle Maldonado:
Oh.
Ryan Dunn:
Since people want to hang onto their swear words and their cigarettes. Number four thing that people are giving up for Lent according to Twitter is actually lent. They're giving up Lent for Lent.
Michelle Maldonado:
Wow!
Ryan Dunn:
All kinds of meta. Yeah. And then number five, I won't make you guess. Number five is sex. People are going to give that up for Lent. If we want to keep rolling, number six is coffee, number seven is chocolate. That probably would've been my guess for number one. Number eight is swearing, number nine is men, number 10 is meat. Number 11 is a curious one. Baseball. I didn't know that was a problem for people, but yeah, they're giving up baseball for Lent.
Michelle Maldonado:
Interesting.
Ryan Dunn:
Which is kind of a cheater, I think, because baseball season doesn't start until the very end of Lent, so I don't know.
Michelle Maldonado:
Somebody's trying to find a loophole.
Ryan Dunn:
That's right. Yep, yep. Well, you mentioned that you do have or have been exposed to some Lenten practices, but they're not things that have... Well, that the giving up of things wasn't part of your normal practice. What has been your Lent experience? What do you remember practicing for Lent, either in your earlier days or later on in life?
Michelle Maldonado:
We would always start off by having a community gathering where it was just a meal. Just a meal, hanging out, spending time together. And throughout that week, every single day was something different. So it was the meal, like regular food, and then we would do washing of the feet with a small message, trying to explain this is an act of service, et cetera, et cetera. Then, I remember on the Friday, I believe, we would get together at the church and have a last supper style communion where everybody would sit down at the table and share, it has to be, the Hawaiian bread.
Ryan Dunn:
Oh, yes. Yeah.
Michelle Maldonado:
Hawaiian bread.
Ryan Dunn:
This is Methodist then?
Michelle Maldonado:
Yes. With grape juice and that is the last supper. So we got the really fancy Jews and actual grapes that you can put in the Jews, and it's like a Last Supper, that kind of thing. And the tables are set up like that as well, and the sanctuary. And that was always fun because we got Hawaiian bread and fancy juice and grapes. It was exciting as a kid. Of course, as a kid, you don't quite get it, but it's still nice to be excited for that and for that tradition.
Ryan Dunn:
Was that on Good Friday when you were talking about they were having that-
Michelle Maldonado:
Yes.
Ryan Dunn:
Okay.
Michelle Maldonado:
Yeah, we did that on Good Friday. Saturday, everybody took a break because we'd been churching the whole week, and on Sunday-
Ryan Dunn:
Yeah, sometimes they call it Silent Saturday.
Michelle Maldonado:
Yeah, everybody was definitely silent, recharging from going to church every day.
Ryan Dunn:
Napping, yep.
Michelle Maldonado:
And then on Sunday, I grew up in Florida and palm trees are everywhere, so we would get the palms. What are they called in English? I only know the name of these in Spanish, but everybody took turns to grab the actual ferns and that's what we would use in the church service to wave in the air. In the Latino church, doesn't matter denomination, there's enough Pentecostal tradition in there that there is a lot of that verbal affirmations in the service. There's liturgical dances at random. Everybody has flags that they can just wave and worship, so we would use the ferns as those flags to wave in the air and that was more of the celebration. It was also very fun, and it was... Oh, the not so fun part was at six in the morning, we were already at church to watch the sunrise.
Ryan Dunn:
This was Easter Sunday?
Michelle Maldonado:
Yeah. And then we would have breakfast as a community. So those are some traditions that I still hold on dearly. I try to go back home during Easter just because I haven't... It's different because it's my community. It's where I grew up, and I like celebrating with my community.
Ryan Dunn:
Are you still doing the Easter sunrise service now that it's your choice?
Michelle Maldonado:
Yes.
Ryan Dunn:
Right on. Cool.
Michelle Maldonado:
Yeah.
Ryan Dunn:
Well, what about this year? What do you thinking you might do for Lent this year in the 40 days leading up to this? What are you going to do to prepare yourself for that Easter sunrise?
Michelle Maldonado:
So people, they set their goals for January 1st, all of the... What's it called? The...
Ryan Dunn:
New Year's Resolutions.
Michelle Maldonado:
New Year's Resolutions. So I like to do my resolutions after Lent. I feel like that is a good time to start something new. I've been thinking the last weeks like, "What's my resolution? What can I start during the season?"
Ryan Dunn:
Okay, you're holding on. Yeah, well, in a way, Lenten can kind of be this yard sale for the soul in that you declutter things out, and maybe then, that leads into this time of reflection where you can assess like, "Okay, what do I need to work on now?" And for me, I guess-
Michelle Maldonado:
Spring cleaning.
Ryan Dunn:
Yeah. Yeah, that's what I've heard it called. Not the Yard Sale for the Soul. Spring Cleaning for the Soul. And for me, I guess my goal this year is to just give that the space and the time. So I've not been very, I guess, deliberate about praying in terms of praying as a listening practice. So just spending open time, carving out even just five minutes to sit and be. I do pray, but a lot of times, it's on the fly and then it just turns into my one-sided monologue about things that I'm hoping to see happen in the world that I'm communicating to God. So yeah, I think just to turn that into a time of receiving more than just going out my wishlist for things that I would love to see enacted in the world.
Michelle Maldonado:
In the US, we have the version of [foreign language 00:26:36], better known as Mardi Gras. I was born close to New Orleans, so as a kid, we would go to New Orleans and that was the start of Lent for us, but I've always wanted to do a Latin American [foreign language 00:26:51] just to see what that's like in the overall Latin American culture, because everybody goes hard during [foreign language 00:26:59]. They get everything out of their system. They do all the drinking, the overeating, over-indulgence, and then they're like, "Okay, we're good. Now we can start Lent." So I've always wanted to go down to Brazil or even Colombia, which, fun fact, Colombia has the largest [foreign language 00:27:18] in the world, even though [foreign language 00:27:20] is Brazilian.
Ryan Dunn:
Oh, yeah. Okay. Oh, right. Yeah, normally, when you hear [foreign language 00:27:25], you do think Brazil. We both live in Nashville. Are there any kind of [foreign language 00:27:32] observances here in Nashville?
Michelle Maldonado:
I've heard of a couple small gatherings. Nothing big. It's mostly Plaza Mariachi down on Nolansville Pike. They try and up and hold to those traditions from all Latin America. They'll have a Saturday, they'll do a little festival kind of thing, so they're probably going to have something,
Ryan Dunn:
And that wouldn't be too different from, I guess, in the more Anglo-sized version of it, we have Shrove Tuesday, which, for some reason has now become connected to pancakes. So definitely be like a whole nother episode where we research that one out and Wednesday Addams can tell us what's up with that. But yeah. Yeah, it's the same deal. You load up, or Fat Tuesday would be familiar according to the Mardi Gras tradition of load up on all the vice stuff before you abstain from everything for the next 40 days, beginning on Ash Wednesday.
Michelle Maldonado:
For anybody who doesn't know, that's why Fat Tuesday, the boozy slushy place, that's why they're called Fat Tuesday.
Ryan Dunn:
Fat Tuesday. Mm-hmm.
Michelle Maldonado:
It's over-indulgence
Ryan Dunn:
The perpetual Fat Tuesday, right? Yeah. All right. Well, as we close out this episode on Lent and actually begin the season of Lent as we are launching this episode on Ash Wednesday, let's leave with just a little benediction from the United Methodist Book of Worship for our Lenten season. It goes like this: "May the Almighty and merciful God who desires not the death of a sinner, but that we turn from wickedness and live accept your repentance, forgive your sins, and restore you by the Holy Spirit to newness of life. Amen."
Michelle Maldonado:
Amen.
Ryan Dunn:
Friend, thanks for taking this journey with us through time and so many other rabbit holes across tradition and even into the AI. Again, this has been the Compass Podcast where we disrupt the everyday with glimpses of...
Michelle Maldonado:
The divine.
Ryan Dunn:
Deity! Thank you, Wednesday Addams, for that. And again, thank you for listening. If you found this episode helpful, we have other Lenten episodes. What's the Deal with Lent came out a couple years ago. Also, we'll be coming up with new episodes promising some practices for this special season and beyond, so check those out at unc.org/compass. Hey, if you have some episode ideas, you can reach out to me, Ryan, or Michelle at rethinkchurch@uncom.org. Compass comes out every other week, so we look forward to chatting at you again in a new episode in two weeks time. In the meantime, peace.
Michelle Maldonado:
Have a good one.
