Get Holy, Get Happy - Labyrinth Walk & Happy Hour - special Lenten edition

6:00 - 6:45 p.m. - Labyrinth Walk in the Church of the Epiphany (1317 G St. NW)
6:45 - 8:00 p.m. - Happy Hour & meaningful conversation at Laughing Man Tavern (1306 G St. NW, across the street from Epiphany)

Get Holy Get Happy during Lent

It’s the season of Lent and we’re still getting happy! Shouldn’t we be giving up happy hours for Lent? Not quite. Instead we're going to try fasting on that day, and break the fast together with contemplative prayer and then the happy hour.

Christians observe Lent as a preparation for Easter and to remember Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness where he fasted and used Scripture to fight off temptation from the devil. Lent runs from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday (for 2013 that’s February 13 – March 31). The number of days is actually 44, but often Lenten fasts are not observed on Sundays because every Sunday is a feast day to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.

Traditionally this season is marked by fasting and prayer. Lent is not meant to “give something up”, only to take it up again after Easter, but rather to come closer to God by focusing less on material things such as food, chocolate, or caffeine. Lent is where we give special attention to our spiritual life and building a relationship with God.

Fasting in the Christian tradition is practiced in different ways. Most traditions derive from the Catholic Church where Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the primary fasting days. To fast in this sense means to only eat only one full meal without meat or animal products like eggs or cheese, but water and juice is allowed. In recent times, most Catholics will not eat meat on Fridays. Usually fasting occurs during daylight hours. Protestant churches, like the Episcopal Church, have looser guidelines. If you decide to fast you could skip two meals or even just one meal (so you could eat lunch and dinner). Protestants also do not follow strict guidelines on abstaining from meat.

For the Church of the Epiphany Meet Up group, we welcome you to consider fasting when we next meet on February 20. You can fast for a few hours, the whole day, or not at all, but use the day as a time to pray more and be conscious about how you eat. Come share your experience at the happy hour when we break bread together again.

See you on February 20!