Today, as you may know, is Ash Wednesday, and there’s a lot of good online discussion taking place about the holiday. The BBC has a good overview of Ash Wednesday’s significance.

On the blogging front, the GetReligion team has a meaty post up surveying media pieces on the holiday. Richard Neuhaus writes at First Things about the holiday’s curious popularity in New York. And Tod Bolsinger has written a good post delving into the real purpose of the event:

The focus of Ash Wednesday and Lent is repentance. Again, many of us are confused about repentance. Some of us think of it as “penance,” that is, atoning for our sins with acts of contrition. But that is not repentance. We can’t atone for what we have done and need not try….

So what is repentance, exactly? You’ll have to read the rest of his post to find out.

And of course, the big question as Lent begins is “What are you giving up for Lent?” That’s a personal choice, of course, but I like Debra Farrington’s advice:

Here’s my advice: Don’t give up chocolate for Lent this year. Or rather, give up chocolate — or whatever else you give up — if it helps you think about God more often. But if all it does is make you think about chocolate, then let me suggest some other Lenten practices to you.

What most of us neglect— with more regularity than we might care to admit — is God. So this Lent, instead of giving up chocolate, give up neglecting God.

And she’s got some practical ideas for doing just that.