Statement of Intent

This project begins as an adventure, a challenge I have taken up as millions of Christians worldwide begin to observe the season of Lent. Lent is Latin for “spring,” as in the season in which life sprouts, blossoms, hatches, emerges forth. However, most Americans—Christians and non-Christians alike—are more familiar with the idea that Lent is a time for abstaining. No eating meat on Fridays, give up chocolate or alcohol or swearing, sit and think about what you’ve done. That may sound harsh, but I have to wonder if it’s really so unlike “spring cleaning,” perhaps on a spiritual scale? A yearly organizing of the spiritual house, what stays and what is give-away, what needs to be deep-cleaned or replaced, brought out or put away. Fasting does not quite connote the same sense of betterment that spring cleaning might. But fasting is certainly not unique to Christianity—in Islam the month of Ramadan is devoted to fasting, and Hollywood, Oprah, and the Cosmo Girl all recently embraced the Acai Berry detox diet. I once read that fasting is about giving up something you love (sweets, for example) for something you love more (translate as “God”). Spiritually speaking, this makes sense—every time I refrain from eating meat on Friday, I am subtly reminded that this is because it is Lent, which is God’s time. On the other hand, fasting literally means not consuming, and I am enraptured with the spiritual implications of this.

In this space I seek to engage several questions raised by not consuming during Lent. What connections can be made between Lenten fasting and me as an American consumer? What do I consume? What might abstinence mean spiritually? How does consuming and/or fasting shape my spirituality? My reflections will be primarily based on my own experience as a …
twenty-six year old
Caucasian
Roman Catholic
American
woman
heterosexual
non-handicapped person
upper-middle class lady
current resident of the Pacific Northwest
graduate student.
(Mouthful). I will also be digesting several resources I have consumed for this project, mainly within the area of religion and the media. These will be added as “resources” throughout. Finally, I have included below a glossary of terms which includes a couple general definitions of the key words I will be using. This is in part so I will not be caught up in semantics, attempting to be clear about what I do and do not mean with each entry, wasting breath, screen space, straining further your eyes; but also this is because I find the general definitions best serve my purpose of exploration—I have no interest in using this blog as a soap box to preach my personal conclusions as universal truths. Rather, I seek to explore my own agency of choice as a consumer of media. I choose to read NYTimes.com, I do not choose the stories featured or the images highlighted ... so, what do I choose to ingest and act upon? What does this mean for my relationship with myself, with others, with God?

My hope is that these entries provoke thought, invite meditation, and honor both my own experience and the Divine Mystery …

GLOSSARY OF TERMS:

“media”: the actual or principal means of mass communication, such as the newspaper, the radio and the television. (Jolyon Mitchell)

“popular culture”: those commercially-produced items specifically associated with leisure, the mass media, and lifestyle choices that people consume. (Lynn Schofield Clark)

“spirituality”: relationship with self, others, God, especially regarding making meaning of the human experience.

RESOURCES:

Jolyon Mitchell, ed. Media Violence and Christian Ethics (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007)

Jolyon Mitchell and S. Brent Plate, editors, The Religion and Film Reader (New York: Routeledge, 2007)

Gordon Lynch, ed. Between Sacred and Profane: Researching Religion and Popular Culture (New York: I.B. Tauris, 2007)