I like the eastern concept of Lent - fresh start, free of debt - much more than the western concept. I'm atheist, despite being raised in various denominations. However, I think we should all make it a priority to forgive and to apologize, and start anew. There's no reason to wallow in guilt. We should revel in common harmony instead.
And here I thought you were going to discuss life's evolution from bacteria and archaea with a title that includes "butt dust." After all butt dust is poop, which is mostly bacteria. Of course extant bacteria and archaea are just as remote in time and evolution from the primordial goo as we are, our prokaryotic cousins are just evolved differently to us multicellular eukaryotes. There are actually way more bacterial cells passing though your gut at any given time than the number of human cells that make up your body. We live to move the bacteria in poo around and put it on some other part of the planet. So be humble!
As a person raised Ukrainian Orthodox, I can't think of any perceived injury that requires forgiveness but I give it all the same. Please do the same for me. Thanks for helping me to understand why I have experienced Lent so differently from my Protestant in-laws.
I miss Forgiveness Vespers and Orthodox Lent the most about having left the Church. Western Christians are so married to their traditions that, at best, they think the whole forgiveness thing is cute. Honestly, it's like a different religion. (I left Orthodoxy because of culture war nonsense and being stifled as a woman in the Church.)
I just learned about the books The Sin of Empathy and Toxic Empathy that have been circulating in some so-called Christian circles. It is mind-boggling that Christians can believe such things when Jesus clearly thought empathy was pretty important, but it makes a lot of sense as to how they are behaving and voting. We need forgiveness (and empathy) more than ever.
Ah yes, nothing says “remember you are dust” like walking around with a smudge on your forehead while side-eyeing strangers at brunch. I get it though—first time seeing an ashed-up forehead can feel like you just interrupted someone’s ritual summoning.
But let’s be real, if Jesus were standing there, hearing that Ash Wednesday reading about not making a show of fasting, he’d be like, “Uh, guys? Did you… read the memo?” Meanwhile, we’re all out here posting selfies like, “#Blessed #RepentanceVibes.”
And yeah, that priest probably did do a shoddy job. If you’re gonna mark someone for Lent, at least make it symmetrical. Otherwise, it looks less like a sacred sign of mortality and more like a parking lot oil stain.
But hey, tradition is tradition. Even if it contradicts itself harder than a televangelist on tax day.
I like the eastern concept of Lent - fresh start, free of debt - much more than the western concept. I'm atheist, despite being raised in various denominations. However, I think we should all make it a priority to forgive and to apologize, and start anew. There's no reason to wallow in guilt. We should revel in common harmony instead.
And here I thought you were going to discuss life's evolution from bacteria and archaea with a title that includes "butt dust." After all butt dust is poop, which is mostly bacteria. Of course extant bacteria and archaea are just as remote in time and evolution from the primordial goo as we are, our prokaryotic cousins are just evolved differently to us multicellular eukaryotes. There are actually way more bacterial cells passing though your gut at any given time than the number of human cells that make up your body. We live to move the bacteria in poo around and put it on some other part of the planet. So be humble!
As a person raised Ukrainian Orthodox, I can't think of any perceived injury that requires forgiveness but I give it all the same. Please do the same for me. Thanks for helping me to understand why I have experienced Lent so differently from my Protestant in-laws.
My favorite:
Almighty and most merciful Father,
we have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep.
We have followed too much the devices and desires
of our own hearts.
We have offended against thy holy laws.
We have left undone those things
which we ought to have done;
and we have done those things
which we ought not to have done;
and there is no health in us.
But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders.
Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults.
Restore thou them that are penitent;
according to thy promises declared unto mankind
in Christ Jesu our Lord.
And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake,
that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life,
to the glory of thy holy name.
Amen.
The Eastern Orthodox ritual is beautiful. I never heard of it before.
TEVYE! 😃
Seconded only by rebirth and regeneration in Easter. The old 3 R's I used to teach as a chaplain: Ruined, Redeemed, Regenerated.
You are deep, unconventional, and enthralling. These things have a neo-
Orthodox value and meaning and exist therefore in every cultural.
You are forgiven, please forgive me.
I miss Forgiveness Vespers and Orthodox Lent the most about having left the Church. Western Christians are so married to their traditions that, at best, they think the whole forgiveness thing is cute. Honestly, it's like a different religion. (I left Orthodoxy because of culture war nonsense and being stifled as a woman in the Church.)
I just learned about the books The Sin of Empathy and Toxic Empathy that have been circulating in some so-called Christian circles. It is mind-boggling that Christians can believe such things when Jesus clearly thought empathy was pretty important, but it makes a lot of sense as to how they are behaving and voting. We need forgiveness (and empathy) more than ever.
Ah yes, nothing says “remember you are dust” like walking around with a smudge on your forehead while side-eyeing strangers at brunch. I get it though—first time seeing an ashed-up forehead can feel like you just interrupted someone’s ritual summoning.
But let’s be real, if Jesus were standing there, hearing that Ash Wednesday reading about not making a show of fasting, he’d be like, “Uh, guys? Did you… read the memo?” Meanwhile, we’re all out here posting selfies like, “#Blessed #RepentanceVibes.”
And yeah, that priest probably did do a shoddy job. If you’re gonna mark someone for Lent, at least make it symmetrical. Otherwise, it looks less like a sacred sign of mortality and more like a parking lot oil stain.
But hey, tradition is tradition. Even if it contradicts itself harder than a televangelist on tax day.
As always, an insightful and hilarious take. That paragraph starting: "So now you are covered in ash," just is hysterical!
However the Jewish concept of atonement in Yom Kippur is the most meaningful institution in the neo-orthodox panoply.