Our Lenten practice in simplicity this week is to drive less, conscious of protecting God’s creation.

We need to reconsider how we get around.

Our Lenten practice this week is to use energy more efficiently.

Energy is necessary to support life. But coal, gas and oil are limited resources.
We need energy to live and our appliances need energy in order to function. But where does energy come from?

Water is essential for life. If life is sacred, then whatever supports life is sacred.

In order to survive, we must consume. But in the United States we are consuming at an unsustainable pace, with damaging consequences for the wellbeing of people and creation.

Our Lenten practice this week is buying and eating our food responsibly.

“Give us today our daily bread.”

The daily bread provided by God comes directly from the Earth. The act of eating unites us to the soil, water and animals of this planet like nothing else. All these gifts of God’s creation are included in our food.

Every purchase of food and every act of eating becomes a moral decision. When making food choices we need to consider the manner in which crops were planted and fertilized, the method used to raise animals for eating, and the distance food has to be shipped.

While our agricultural system produces a lot of food, it also has a downside. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides from large agricultural farms contaminate the soil. Animal waste from factory farmed meat defiles the water. Transporting food over long distances pollutes the air. Our food choices are having a huge impact on the whole of creation.

Food is not only central to survival. It is a sacramental gift of God’s grace and providence. Our Lenten fast this week will aim to develop greater sensitivity to how our food choices can honor, rather than exploit, God’s creation.

The challenge of simplicity is to live differently than the standards set by a greedy consumer culture. To begin, try setting purchasing limits that fit with your values, and live within them. Use your buying power to reinforce your faith. Let your shopping decisions make a difference. With each dollar you can select products that are socially and environmentally responsible. Clear the clutter from your home. Develop a sense of moderation and sharing. Discover the joy that comes from contentment, sensing that you have enough. And hold in your heart those people who don’t have enough – enough food, enough water, enough of basic life necessities.

Christian simplicity means setting limits that reflect your faith values by taking only what you need – not wasting or taking in excess. Good stewardship of creation results in a life that is outwardly simple, inwardly rich, and socially just.

If there’s only one thing you can do …

Use cloth shopping bags instead of paper and plastic. Paper bags cause millions of trees to be cut. Plastic bags kill thousands of birds and marine animals every year by being eaten or entangled in discarded bags mistaken for food.According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags are distributed in the U.S. each year.

Take Small Steps to Simplify

• Question: How many light bulbs does it take to change the world? Answer: One at a time. Start by replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs. They emit the same amount of light, but use 75% less electricity. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, if every American home replaced just one light with a CFL light, we would save enough energy to light 3 million homes for a year, save about $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year.
• Replace paper napkins and towels with cloth. Give up wasteful disposable paper products that end up in landfills.
• Use a refillable mug in the office or on the go. Cut down on waste as well as toxic chemicals in the environment. Buying daily coffee in disposable cups generates about 22 pounds of waste per year and sends approximately 65 pounds of CO2 into the air.

Inner Simplicity

Abstain from over-scheduling your life. Do this by planning ahead to eliminate unnecessary actions. Forgo TV and/or social networking sites at least one day during the week. Read Psalm 104. Sit quietly in gratitude for the gift of life. Consciously connect with God’s natural world at least once during the week.

Outer Simplicity

Try forgoing some “must-have” items. It’s a matter of training the mind to get along with less. Consider impulsive buying habits. When a desire for something arises, wait a couple days to make sure it is not an impulse buy.

Additional Resources

• Watch “Home,” an extraordinary movie about the only planet on which you’ll live. This 90 minute evening activity will help you understand why caring for creation is so important.
• Read a portion of Richard Foster’s spiritual classic, Freedom of Simplicity.
• Read Duane Elgin’s essay “Choosing a New Lifeway, Voluntary Simplicity.”

LENT 4.5 IS A 7-WEEK FAITH FORMATION PROGRAM

It is a program of conversion. It inspires and informs Christian communities on how to use the traditional Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to protect God’s creation, bring forth a just society, and nurture a fulfilling spiritual life. It offers practical opportunities for people of faith to apply the values of Gospel simplicity to their everyday lives. This goal is accomplished by:

• highlighting simplicity as a key feature of Christian discipleship and as a joyful means of finding the spiritual fulfillment which consumerism cannot offer;
• drawing attention to church teachings on the integrity of creation, social justice and the dignity of all human beings;
• offering creative new ways of observing the traditional Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that can make a difference in the inequities of our world and the damage being done to God’s creation;
• fostering a conversion of heart – metanoia – by leading Christians into a deeper baptismal commitment to walk in the footsteps of Jesus by living in right relationship with God, creation, and the entire human family.

Let’s start blogging!