Series on Spiritual Formation and Lent

Over at InterVarsity's "Emerging Scholars Blog" I'm writing a series on Lent and spiritual formation.  My introductory post is here and the first post on Ash Wednesday, here.  I'm writing an article every week, publishing on Wednesday mornings.  Here's the first paragraph from the Ash Wednesday post:

Lent is Church language.  For countless jaded Christians the word implies little more than hypocrisy and self-righteousness.  For others it’s that time of year to give up coffee or baked goods for a few weeks.  When some think of it, this might pop into their heads: “It seems like I remember my sin enough without smudging it on my face and going without my favorite drink for a month and a half.”  I invited a friend to the Ash Wednesday service with a local Catholic congregation and this was his response: “Nah man.  I like my coffee.”  And then he added, chuckling, “When I hear ‘Lent’ I think of my Catholic friends giving up some piddly thing and making a big deal about it on Facebook.”  He has a legitimate critique.  There are, in my experience, a precious few who really get the point of dabbing a bit of ash on their foreheads.  And that is, in part, why I’m writing this series.