If you are looking for something to give up for Lent, Generous Space Ministries has a suggestion:

This Lent we are inviting church people to give up the comfort of silence and speak up in support of their LGBTQ+ siblings in Christ. The challenge is to tell your pastor that you affirm LGBTQ+ people in the church!

For those who might be a little unclear as to the exact meaning of this, let me explain: it is not enough to affirm the presence of an LGBTQ+ person in your church, something I presume we would all do.

We have to understand that Christianity has left behind outdated ideas like denying yourself, laying aside your old self, crucifying the flesh, putting off your former way of life, and being dead to immorality, impurity, passion and evil desires. We are far too enlightened to fall for that medieval self-flagellating claptrap – unless, of course, you are a BDSM+ person, in which case, we affirm your pain.

Now we affirm everything a person is, does and thinks. Otherwise ze will feel excluded. And since exclusion is the only sin left to the church, the full measure of the church’s wrath is visited on its practitioners.

If you are wondering what all this has to do with repentance, it’s really quite simple: this Lent you must repent of your odious, outdated and, quite frankly, phobic view of homosexuality and all its scintillating and inspiring variations, expressions and activities.