An Indian Journey through Lent, Day 14
I’m still thinking about this issue of fasting and abstinence, the third of Rev Thomas Weitzel’s Lenten disciplines. Our western cultures tend not to be into self discipline. To the contrary, with the constant urging of the advertising industry, we are expected to indulge ourselves.
Recently I had the following delightful (adapted) conversation with an Indian friend, Veena, who has married a Nigerian and settled in Gothenburg, Sweden, where they have discovered the delights of “semlor”, a bun that is meant to be consumed only on Shrove Tuesday, but is so tasty that it’s available from just after Christmas until after Easter.
And here we have to go into 3 languages - Hindi, Swedish and English - the languages which Veena, Lena and all Swedish missionaries to India speak:
“Nu äter vi massa goda Semlor”, (We’re eating heaps of yummy buns now.) wrote Veena on Facebook, as if to make me jealous. English-style pancakes are just nowhere near as tasty, and as Veena knows there is nothing in Indian tradition to match semlor.
I replied “...mitt i Fastans tid…”
Which means ‘…right in the middle of Lent…”, except i was teasing her, playing the mock disciplinarian. “i Fastans tid” means literally, “in the time of the fast”!
“Can't help, they're selling n I m buying” Veena protested.
To which I wrote “Veena, you don't HAVE to buy them!”
By now Veena was so excited that she replied in all 3 languages:
First Swedish: “De är såååååå goda” - “they are SOOOO yummy”.
Then English : “Can’t resist,”
And finally she reverted to her mother tongue Hindi:
"isiliye mujhe khareedna padta hai.” (इसीलिए मुझे खरीदना पड़ता है)
Which means, “So I have to buy!”
And she finished off: “By the way I m language teacher now.”
So there, David Ji! Shut up!
But there’s a serious question behind all this: Does God want us to be strict and disciplined, or fun-loving partiers?
And behind that question is a still deeper one: Is God a strict disciplinarian, or a party lover?
What’s this God that we Christians believe in and worship like?
I’m still thinking about this issue of fasting and abstinence, the third of Rev Thomas Weitzel’s Lenten disciplines. Our western cultures tend not to be into self discipline. To the contrary, with the constant urging of the advertising industry, we are expected to indulge ourselves.
Recently I had the following delightful (adapted) conversation with an Indian friend, Veena, who has married a Nigerian and settled in Gothenburg, Sweden, where they have discovered the delights of “semlor”, a bun that is meant to be consumed only on Shrove Tuesday, but is so tasty that it’s available from just after Christmas until after Easter.
And here we have to go into 3 languages - Hindi, Swedish and English - the languages which Veena, Lena and all Swedish missionaries to India speak:
“Nu äter vi massa goda Semlor”, (We’re eating heaps of yummy buns now.) wrote Veena on Facebook, as if to make me jealous. English-style pancakes are just nowhere near as tasty, and as Veena knows there is nothing in Indian tradition to match semlor.
I replied “...mitt i Fastans tid…”
Which means ‘…right in the middle of Lent…”, except i was teasing her, playing the mock disciplinarian. “i Fastans tid” means literally, “in the time of the fast”!
“Can't help, they're selling n I m buying” Veena protested.
To which I wrote “Veena, you don't HAVE to buy them!”
By now Veena was so excited that she replied in all 3 languages:
First Swedish: “De är såååååå goda” - “they are SOOOO yummy”.
Then English : “Can’t resist,”
And finally she reverted to her mother tongue Hindi:
"isiliye mujhe khareedna padta hai.” (इसीलिए मुझे खरीदना पड़ता है)
Which means, “So I have to buy!”
And she finished off: “By the way I m language teacher now.”
So there, David Ji! Shut up!
But there’s a serious question behind all this: Does God want us to be strict and disciplined, or fun-loving partiers?
And behind that question is a still deeper one: Is God a strict disciplinarian, or a party lover?
What’s this God that we Christians believe in and worship like?
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