The Season of Lent

Ted Olsen writes for the magazine Christianity Today. A friend of his asked him, “What did you give up for Lent?” Olsen wrote, “I had grown up in Baptist and other conservative evangelical churches, so my friend’s question held no meaning. I figured it was like a second chance at a New Year’s Resolution for those who had already abandoned theirs. Even around here at the Christianity Today Inc. offices, where Christian History is based, it seems that Ash Wednesday passed with little notice. There were just as many donut trays by the coffee pots, and just as many hamburgers in the lunch room. That’s surprising, especially since Lent is one of the oldest observations on the Christian calendar. Like all Christian holy days and holidays, it has changed over the years, but its purpose has always been the same: self-examination and penitence, demonstrated by self-denial, in preparation for Easter.”

Lent is old although is used to be considerably shorter. A church father named Irenaus of Lyons back in the 2nd century wrote about a 2-3 day season of Lent. By the 4th century it had become a 40-day Lenten season not counting Sundays. Sundays are considered feast days in celebration of Christ’s resurrection, and Lent is characterized by fast days. The fast started out very strictly from the 4th century, but over the years the Western churches relaxed the requirements. By the Middle Ages many churches allowed parishioners to eat eggs and milk products during Lent as long as they gave offerings of actions or money. This proved particularly profitable for building France’s Rouen cathedral during centuries of building, and one of their 16th century steeples is known as the Butter Tower!

Lent ends on the Wednesday before Maundy Thursday, which is the first day of the Easter Triduum, also called Paschal Triduum. It’s a term used to denote the last three days before Easter Sunday: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

Lent was early on a time of baptism, where the catechumens were taught and prepared by the church throughout Lent. Between the 3rd and 4th centuries, the Easter Vigil became an extremely significant baptismal night. Catechumens were fully initiated into the community with baptism, confirmation and admission to the Eucharist.

When the Christian church began to grow and mass conversions occur, they could no longer handle the intense teaching and guidance of the catechumens. The emphasis on Lent changed from baptism to the preparation of all believers to celebrate the Passion and Resurrection of Christ.

However, thinking about Lent’s similarities to baptism is a pretty good idea. We begin as sinners, we are renewed in Christ, we become the saints of God. Let’s look at a key passage for thinking about water and streams during Lent. Read Ps. 126:1-6.

1 When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed.
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
3 The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy.
6 He who goes out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with him. (Ps. 126:1-6)

Here is another passage on new things. The Lenten season is a preparation for living a new life. Read Isaiah 43:16-19.

16 This is what the LORD says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
17 who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland. (Is. 43:16-19)

How to Observe Lent

I admit that I get irritable whenever people talk about not liking to remember the “dark” parts of the Passion. Well sheesh, who LIKES to do that?  That’s not the point.

Dr. Dennis Bratcher writes  for a Christian website called The Voice.  I picked up this passage:

“We enjoy celebrating Palm Sunday.  The children get to make paper palm branches and for many it is one of the few times they get to take an active role in “big church.”  We wave the palm branches and celebrate. And we all love Easter Sunday!  It is a happy time, with flowers, new clothes, and the expectation of Spring in the air.

“Yet there is something significant missing if we only concentrate on celebration for these two Sundays.  It is too easy and promotes much too cheap a grace to focus only on the high points of Palm Sunday and Easter without walking with Jesus through the gathering shadows of Maundy Thursday and the darkness of Good Friday. For us, that journey begins on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Lent is a way to recall a larger story than just celebration. It is a way to face the reality of the consequences of sin and the terrible toll it takes on the world. Lent calls us to examine our own lives with the prayer, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me (Ps. 139:23-24).”

How then should we observe Lent?

• Fasting. What can you fast from? (Food, TV, etc. Also fast from attitudes like pride or complaining.)
• Lenten devotions. Many devotionals will concentrate on personal penance during this season.
• Personal retreat. Take a personal retreat day. You can do it at home if you can be alone for a few hours, but try to sit somewhere you don’t usually sit for a change. You can also try going to the church (if you can sneak in without being asked to do something!) or drive the half hour to St. Andrews in Valyermo.
• Ask God to tell you one thing He wants you to nail to the cross! It could be a worry, a sin, an attitude, an addiction, a toxic relationship, a job or volunteer activity that you need to let go — whatever God is telling you to let go of.