Lent is a forty-day liturgical season (not counting Sundays), which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. Its dates are set by Easter Sunday, which is always on the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring (any Sunday in between March 22 and April 25). Its traditionally color is purple, with gray or earthen tones on Ash Wednesday and black on Good Friday. The word Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon word lencten, which literally means “spring.”
The season has historically been a time of preparation for celebrating Easter, and during its time Christians have engaged in routines of spiritual discipline such as regular times of prayer and fasting. Also, since the days of the early church it has been a time of preparation for new converts before their baptism on Easter Sunday.
Lent is made up of five significant days (called “moveable feasts” since the actual date changes):
- Ash Wednesday – the first day of Lent, this day frames us in a place where we become aware of our sinful nature and our mortality. We mark ourselves with the sign of the cross on our foreheads in the ashes of last year’s palms to remind ourselves of God’s words in Genesis 3: “from dust you came, and to dust you shall return.”
- Palm Sunday – on the sixth Sunday of Lent we celebrate Jesus’ ironic entry into Jerusalem.
To hear this story, read Matthew 21:1-11.
This Sunday is also referred to as “Passion Sunday,” and traditionally in our practices we process in with loud “Hosannas,” waving palms, and then listen to the Passion story in the proclamation (lessons and sermon.)
The next three days are often referred to as the Great Three Days, the Triduum or Pasch (another word for the Passover). These occur during the time when the Jewish tradition celebrates the Passover, when God sent his angel to kill the firstborn male of every male in Egypt while the Israelites were slaves there during the time of Moses.
- Maundy Thursday – on this day we celebrate and remember the Last Supper, where Jesus instituted the Holy Communion we celebrate each week.
To hear this story again, read Matthew 26:26-30.
- Good Friday – this is the day where we gather to commemorate Jesus’ crucifixion and death. In many churches like our own, this day is celebrated with a service of Tenebrae, meaning “darkness.” This is the most solemn and mournful day in the church year.
Listen to this story in Matthew 27.
- Holy Saturday – the great day of waiting, where we commemorate Jesus being placed in the tomb, and as the Easter people we keep vigil awaiting the resurrection. The vigil kept during this night would traditionally end with the baptism of the newest members before celebrating the dawn of Easter Sunday.
And then we come to Easter! There are not enough exclamation marks or “Allelulias” around to be used when talking about Easter. We Christians are called “Easter people” for good reason: this is the day where we get to see God in his fullness, his love made complete in the resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. One Anglican bishop says that we should celebrate the Easter news by popping the corks off the champagne bottles and throwing a great party!
Our wonderful greeting, which we lose too quickly after Easter, is: Jesus Christ has risen. He has risen indeed. Allelulia!
So, back to Lent. This season tends to get a bad rap within and outside of the church. We feel that it must be depressing, boring, dull; we make it all about giving something up or going to gloomy worship services. But really, Lent is a wonderful gift. It is a gift from God, given to us so that we might prepare ourselves for the Easter news with deep self-reflection and self-discipline. It is a gift of time to be penitent (humbling ourselves before God and repenting of our sins). It is a gift that allows us to refocus ourselves away from the things of the world to which we have become all too dependent: our friends, our food, our bodies, our clothes, our computers and TVs and iPods. It is a quiet and solemn season, but not a sad one. Because we know what is coming, just beyond the trials and death to the joy of an empty tomb.
What can we do to celebrate Lent? Since it is a season of self-discipline and reflection, we are called to many things:
- Ordered and regular prayer
- Fasting – abstaining from food is a traditional understanding of fasting, but it can be giving up anything to which you feel you have become attached
- Scripture reading
- Times of silence and meditation
One of the great practices of the church , especially during this season, are the songs we sing in worship. One is called the Agnes Dei, or “Lamb of God.” Its words are:
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world. Grant us peace.
Another wonderful piece is taken from Psalm 51:
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold with your clean spirit.
In particular, Psalm 51 is a wonderful prayer for this season; please use it yourself at home!
Whatever we do during Lent, the point is for us to take time to reflect on the ways we have been keeping ourselves from God, and look at how we can change those patterns in our lives. Do sports keep us from worship or time in Scripture? Then we need to change our schedule to give up something or accommodate both. Lent is a time for changing priorities, reminding ourselves that God in Christ should be the center of our lives and our great focus.
Hear the good news of Lent: “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Repent and believe the gospel.”
- Cameron M., Intern Pastor
