Thoughts on Lent

It is no wonder that those who celebrate the Lord's Table quarterly (if that) have little use for a penitential season like Lent.  When our religion is entirely propositional and intellectual, it often becomes stripped from the reality of our physical bodies.  When worship is reduced to listening to a theological lecture and singing (or mouthing) some choruses, we have gnostically disregarded our bodies as nothing more than hapless bystanders before the throne of grace.

Lent teaches us to say "No" to ourselves.

Lent teaches us to be moderate, even in good things.

Lent teaches us to worship the Creator and not His Creation, the Giver and not the gifts, the Provider and not His provision.

Lent teaches us that we are dust, wholly weak and worthless apart from our Creator and Redeemer.

Lent teaches us that something far greater than this world awaits us.

Lent is a devotional tool that helps us apply the principles of the Bible.  It is a voluntary season of physical acts that can support spiritual growth.

Lent is a blessing.

Lent is an opportunity.

Lent reminds us that our Lord became flesh and endured temptation, defeating the power of Satan and Death, and empowering us to overcome temptation in our own lives.

Lent teaches us to fast when it is time to fast, and to feast when it is time to feast.

I have heard Lent called pagan, even compared to yoga, but that is not an apt comparison.  Ascetic practices like fasting have, of course, been featured in many different religions, but the practice of fasting for 40 days before Easter developed as a time of preparation for those who were to be baptized (catechumens) on Easter, which was considered the optimal day for baptism. Eventually the practice transferred to the congregation as a whole as a way to show solidarity with the catechumens. 40 days is, of course, a significant number in the Bible, but it was particularly chosen for Lent because of its association with the wilderness narratives of the Exodus and the temptation of Christ.  Lent slowly became an ecumenical practice as the Church calendar developed. Christianity became legal and the Church was beginning to frame time around her Faith (much like the Jews did when they came out of Egypt). The Church calendar is simply a way of taking Biblical devotional practices (feasting, fasting, praying, worshipping, etc.) and organizing them in a catechetical way.  Remember, most Christians didn't have, nor could they read, a Bible, so structuring the year was a way to communicate the truths of the Gospel in a practical way. This is not pagan, nor is it Papist (Lent predates the dominance of the RCC by a couple of centuries).  In fact, it is manifestly Christian and Biblical.

Lent acquaints us with our own inadequacy.

Lent reminds us that God is with us in the wilderness.

Lent assures us that grace not only washes away our sins, but also resurrects us to new life in Christ.  We are not only forgiven, but empowered.

Lent reminds us that our sin is so heinous that forgiving it required the death of the God-man. 

Holy Week reminds us that death must come before resurrection.

Holy Week reminds us that we all put Jesus on that cross.

Holy Week reminds us that our Savior took on true flesh and blood, endured real temptation (yet without sin), and suffered actual physical pain and genuine mental anguish.

Holy Week reminds us that darkness comes before light.

Good Friday reminds us that God's love and justice are equally inviolable.  

Holy Saturday reminds us that hell itself cannot withstand the power of our Lord.

Easter reminds us that death doesn't win.