Confession is good for the soul, so I’ll say it right from the start: I could easily become a choc-a-holic!  I dislike going into supermarkets at this time of the year when the first thing that greets you inside the door of most grocery shops and department stores is… Easter Eggs!  To say nothing of a further tantalising assortment of chocolate products!

I’m sure that there is a diabolical conspiracy afoot to get me to buy more of the stuff than is good for me.  These days when I pull into a service station to tank up my chariot, all is well, until I get to the cash register to pay for what I just put in the tank.  There, right there under my nose, is a whole rack of chocolates of great variety.  If you’re a choc-a-holic then it’s hard attending to your payment for the fuel while you’re salivating over Mars Bars.

On top of that I’ve noticed that kiddies from the local school and the local ‘little athletics’ often come door knocking to raise funds.  ‘No prizes for guessing what they are selling!  Yep!  Chocolates!

I have a sneaky suspicion that chocolate manufacturers add some secret ingredient that keeps us coming back for more… and more!  Just as well that I have a spouse who is a bit more down to earth when it comes to Easter Eggs and Mars Bars.  All of this set me wondering.  Okay, this is the season of the year that keeps the chocolate companies afloat for another year.  But why this emphasis on chocolates precisely during the season of Lent?

When you stop and think about it these two things simply don’t go together.  Chocolates, probably more than any other item of confectionary, are a symbol of luxury and indulgence.  Beggars in India don’t eat chocolates; they can’t even get enough bread to live on.  Orphans in Ethiopia don’t eat Easter Eggs.  Only we in the pampered West eat them.  And then we consume them by the truckload especially during Lent (did you really think everyone keeps all their Easter Eggs until Easter morning…?).

In the Christian Church Lent has traditionally been a time for self-denial and fasting as we think of the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf.  Okay, some reject any idea of self-denial during Lent because it was often misused as a way of trying to score points with God.  But if we accept that some periodic self-denial is beneficial for the soul and if that helps us focus our thoughts on the total self-denial of Jesus on the way to the cross then some kind of fasting during this season is commendable.  But you see, that’s just my problem.  Isn’t it somewhat strange then that especially during this time our culture is calling us to indulge and pamper ourselves with chocolates?  That makes any fasting we might do during Lent particularly challenging for us choc-a-holics.

I told you it was a diabolical plot.  No!  I don’t mean the addictiveness of chocolates.  I mean the pressure for us to indulge ourselves and pamper our taste buds… and then especially right in this season… when some austerity measures in our dietary intake would be far more appropriate.

Please…!  I would be the last to want to ban chocolate products.  I even accept that there is a place for Easter Eggs – provided we explain to our children that eggs symbolize the new life we have in Christ.  When it comes to Easter, and us celebrating the victory of our Lord and Saviour… wonderful!  But I would appeal for us to think this through a little more.  For two reasons!

First, because today we’re very good at feasting but we hardly know anything anymore about fasting.  We’re good at indulging our tastebuds; we’re not so good at disciplining our appetites with some healthy self-denial.

Second, we have an obligation to think of those less fortunate than ourselves.  If you’re spending more on chocolates this season than you’re putting into the collection plate on Sunday or giving to charity then you’ve some sorting out to do of your priorities.

John Westendorp