Lenten Discipline: Looking Beyond the (Charlie) Sheen

During Lent we might commit to a kind of fast. Maybe, as we approach Easter, we can get up out of our seats, exit the circus tent, leave the spectacle behind us.

It is Lent, after all, and the right time to look at the broken and crumbling places inside our own hearts and minds. For aren’t we, just as truly as Charlie Sheen and his “goddesses,” in need of redemption? 

We can approach God in the quiet, unlit season and look for real healing and connection with a God who offers sustenance much more satisfying than watching a person’s life unravel or even than fixating on the next “fairy tale” come to life. 

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer)

(To read my entire post on Charlie Sheen, celebrity worship, and Lent -- on Christianity Today's blog for women -- click here.)