The summer season is nearly over. Despite the initial predictions of a long, hot, dry summer, there has been plenty of rain and it hasn’t been as hot as expected, although there have been some very ‘muggy’ days. Summer will role into autumn, autumn into winter, winter will be followed by spring, then we will return to summer. The seasons come and the seasons go.
The church also has its seasons: Advent, Christmas, Easter and a host of lesser known ones. In the church year, the season before Easter is Lent. If you have ever wondered where the word ‘Lent’ come from, it is derived from the old English word for spring. In England and the rest of the northern hemisphere, Lent always occurs in spring. Although, as with this year, it can begin in the northern winter.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (14 February this year) and consists of the 40 days before Easter, not including Sundays. Lent ends on the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Day. It is traditionally a season of contrition marked by prayer, fasting and abstinence.
The idea of giving things up for Lent is the feature of Lent with which most people are familiar. It has been a source of comedy for many, both within and without the church, as people put a humorous spin on things they have ‘given up’ for Lent. My favourite things that people have said they are giving up for Lent include broccoli (a six year old said this), exercise, and being an adult.
Many people’s approach to Lent is similar to our New Year’s resolutions. Good intentions that we often fail to carry out – although I am fairly sure that the six-year-old mentioned above tried their best to go without broccoli for the whole of Lent. There is a deeper aspect to Lent than simply giving things up, humorously or seriously.
Praying and fasting for 40 days is mentioned several times in the Bible. The book of Exodus recounts how Moses fasted for 40 days and nights before receiving the Ten Commandments. Also in the Old Testament, the prophet Elijah fasted for 40 days and nights before the word of the Lord came to him on Mount Horeb. Specifically, Lent celebrates the 40 days and nights that Jesus fasted in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. The link between each of these three episodes is that their abstinence was a time for prayer and reflection to prepare themselves for their ministry: Moses as the leader of the people of Israel in the exodus from Egypt to the promised land, Elijah as the prophet of God, and Jesus for his role of God’s Messiah.
The modern observance of Lent involves three pillars. First and most well-known is the practice of abstaining from certain foods and other luxuries. The second pillar of Lent is a focus on prayer. Prayer is central to Christianity, an expression of dependence upon God. In Lent we focus our prayers upon our own sinfulness and the sacrifice of Jesus at Easter to make our forgiveness possible. The third aspect of Lent is almsgiving, charitable acts of practical sacrificial love to those in need reminding us of how Jesus gave his life for our need. Underpinning these three pillars is the attitude of penitence and contrition, coming before God full of sorrow and remorse for all our sin.
In the protestant church at least, the observance of Lent has become less prominent and regarded by some as a relic of a bygone era. As we look around our world with the tremendous disparity between rich and poor, as we look inside and recognise that all of us fall into the trap of self-righteousness and imagine ourselves independent and self-sufficient, perhaps we all need a little more Lent in our lives.
Yours in Christ,
Andrew Heron
