Welcome to the first Sunday in the season of Lent, the forty-six days from Ash Wednesday to silent Saturday, the day before Easter, the day before our celebration of the Resurrection. All around the world, people celebrate Lent as a time of reflection and preparation. We reflect on the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross, and we prepare ourselves to celebrate the awesome, life-changing joy of the resurrection.

Traditionally, we as Christians celebrate Lent by examining our hearts, repenting of our sins, and giving up something important to us as a way of identifying with Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf.

Theology professor Colin MacIver has some ideas of other things that we might give up for Lent. He begins with hot showers or mattresses or beds, because we’ve become so dependent on o…