Chocolate for Lent
Week One -- Group Encounter
View first movie clip
Scenes: Chocolate beans awakening a weary husband’s passion for his toilet-scrubbing wife; the Comte in his study, refusing food; Josephine going into the chocolaterie; Guillaume meeting three widows.
Discuss
1. What motivates the Comte’s frugal diet? Is it for his own physical, mental or spiritual health? If not, then what is it?
2. Many people “give up” aspects of their lives without ever intending to do so. Think about the characters in the movie clip. What have they “given up” unintentionally?
3. If strangers came to your church, what things would they see or hear that might make them think that Christianity is more about what you don’t do than what you do?
4. Have any of you used Lent as a period of self-denial? If so, what motivated you to do so? If you are not familiar with the idea of Lenten self-denial, how does it strike you?
Brainstorm (if time)
5. Make a list of all the things you can think of that might be beneficial to give up, whether for a short while, a long while or for good.
6. List all the reasons you can think of why giving up any of those things might be beneficial.
7. Highlight all items on the list that are beneficial, or at least harmless, if taken in moderation.
View second movie clip
Scenes: Comte taking Serge to confession; catechism class; time passing; the villagers in the confessional; Comte at home, drinking water with lemon.
Discuss
8. Chocolat is superficially about a battle between giving up food and enjoying chocolate. But what other “if it feels good, do it” behaviors does the film explore?
9. In your opinion, is Vianne a brave freedom fighter or a sinister and subversive destroyer of traditional values?
Imagine (Recall the two scripture readings from your personal reflection earlier.)
10. What would have happened if Jesus had not withdrawn to the desert and been tempted for forty days before he began his ministry?
11. What would have happened if Peter and Andrew, James and John had not given up the security of their employment and followed Jesus?
12. What might have happened if the rich young man had given away everything that he owned and embarked on a new life? What may have happened to him if he did not?
Meditation In some moments of silence, ask God to show you:
anything it might be healthy—mentally, physically or spiritually—for you to give up;
anything you have inadvertently given up that it might be time for you to rediscover.
READER 1: some words of ancient wisdom from Ecclesiastes 3:1 -8.
READER 2: Some words of
Prayer
Father God, who created all things for our delight, help us to live life to the fullest.
Teach us never to neglect or refuse the many good things you offer us.
Teach us to appreciate the simple joys of being human,
and reach us, in our turn, to create delight for others.
But, Lord, keep us alert, lest we start to use our good gifts in ways that you never intended.
Keep us from the overindulgence that turns healthy appetite into addiction.
Teach us that fruit out of season can be sweet to the lips, yet poison to the body.
Strengthen our weak wills and deal with those deep longings
We ask, Lord, for your forgiveness when we fall.
We acknowledge that it is when and not if, because each of us is fallible.
We ask you that because of this fallibility we all share,
you will help us to he gentle with ourselves and with others
...as you are with us.
In the name of the demanding, forgiving, probing, and gentle Christ. Amen.
To Continue Your Reflection
It is fascinating to note that fasting is a common factor in all major religions and even among those whose reasons for limiting their food intake are not specifically religious, as the proprietors of health spas and Weight Watchers groups can testify.
Perhaps what we are looking at is a common human urge to strip life back to the basics every once in a while. Perhaps it is an instinctive feeling that in order to be more spiritually aware, there are times when the material things you so depend on just have to go.
Of course, giving up is not just about a healthy body. There are ways in which mind and spirit can be honed and strengthened by times of abstinence, not least from the constant pressures and distractions of our frenetic world. It’s good to remember that our well-being is a holistic issue: body, mind, and spirit growing together.
There may come a point, however, when some holistic philosophies part company with the New Testament. Christ’s message is inescapable: self-denial is not only about the good it does for me. The sort of giving up that works best is that which has a deeper purpose behind it.
In this program, therefore, we are exploring not only “giving up” but also “giving out.” If you want to give to others, it will almost always involve giving up something you would rather keep for yourself. Nursing a sick relative involves a loss of time and freedom. Making a charitable donation involves not spending money on something you might otherwise afford. And there are some evils that simply cannot be conquered by remaining uninvolved at a distance. There are times when someone must be willing to give up creature comforts and security and just go—live among the world’s needy as Jesus did—in order to fully understand and fully serve.
On the one hand, Chocolat could easily be seen as an “anti-Lent” movie. But on the other hand, Vianne could be seen as a role model of the kind of self-denial Christ advocated: a person giving up security and status in order to fulfill a calling as a kind of “traveling healer.” It is a calling with a cost to Vianne and her daughter, and like all callings, it raises hard questions: “Am I really doing this because I am called, or because I am driven? And how right is it to impose my own calling on my child?”
“No pain, no gain,” say today’s fitness instructors. “Count the cost,” says Jesus to those who want to build something of their lives. If our calling is a true calling, then it will have a cost worth paying (so long as it is one we choose for ourselves and do not impose on unwilling others).
Another personal confession (not quite so terrible, since I imagine almost everyone reading this book Could say the same!): I have lived very comfortably for just about all of my life. I am used to hot water, central heating and a decent mattress, and have no desire to forgo them. I have not yet been a missionary, or an emergency volunteer. Somehow these particular tasks have never come my way. But I say “not yet” because I would like to think that if God ever needs me—to feed refugees, to visit the elderly, or to campaign for change, be it in the Third World, the inner city, or even a French village—I hope that I am not so addicted to security, routine, and comfort that I would be unable to meet the challenge.
I would like to think so, but...
Am I so physically, mentally, and spiritually “flabby” that I am likely to miss the opportunities that God wants to give me?
To be honest, I don’t know. Do You?
Personal Reflection
Read Luke 5:27-32;
Jesus did not prepare himself for ministry in order to make Himself some sort of super-spiritual being. He prepared Himself for a life among people, all sorts of people. Being where they were, doing what they did. Listening, talking, healing, challenging, risk-taking, absorbing all the criticisms thrown at Him. “Giving up” is of limited value if it does not result in “giving out.”
Reflect (Again this is an exercise in imagination, with no right or wrong answers.)
What might have been different, both at that time and in the centuries that followed, if Jesus had refused to attend the tax collector’s party, or the Pharisee’s dinner? And what might this say abut the idea of “giving out”?