Lent

  With the passing of Ash Wednesday, I have been considering the idea of Lent recently.  Throughout church history, Lent has been considered a time of fasting and focus on Christ.  It is a time of repentance and remembrance of Christ’s work on the cross.  While it has been in existence in some form since the first century, Lent has never been a major part of my life or upbringing.  Coming from a Baptist background, influenced by the Puritans and Anabaptists, the idea of Lent was shunned simply because it was a Catholic idea.  I decided I wanted to take a closer look.

Fasting and self-denial seem to be the biggest part of the season of Lent.  Early in church history this seemed to be much more severe than what I have observed in the church in America today.  Lent was supposed to be representative of the time Jesus spent fasting in the desert for 40 days prior to the start of his public ministry.  For this reason, many Christians in the first few centuries literally fasted for the whole time, either not eating or limiting their food to bare basics.  In the early centuries, this was also a time of penance, especially for those who were out of communion and seeking to be reinstated in the Church.  This time of penance seemed to give way around the beginning of the 10th century and instead people received ashes on their forehead (thus the term Ash Wednesday) as a sign of mourning over their sin.

As time progressed, the restrictions and self-abnegation seemed to lessen.  Fasts were changed to only certain days, such as Fridays, or were replaced by simply giving up a luxury or vice for the designated amount of time.  I have seen people use Ash Wednesday and Lent as an excuse for licentiousness the Tuesday before, now known as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday.  People gorge themselves on all the sins and vices they vow to give up for the 40 days following.  While I believe there is no need for penance under the grace of Christ’s saving work, I can see the benefit of reflecting on one’s sin and repentance.  However, I’m afraid for most people I have encountered it is either an excuse for sin prior to Lent or an excuse for self-praise for their accomplishment or piety in giving up “more” than others.  For this reason, I can understand why the Puritans had some issues with the idea of Lent.

The Puritans were a group of people in the Church of England who saw issues with the way things were being done and called for a purification of the Church.  They wanted to return to the Scriptures as their guide for worship.  They did away with any practices that seemed Papist or were prescribed by the Catholic church.  They sought to do only that which was set forth in Scripture.  As the celebration of holidays is not outlined in Scripture, they renounced the celebration of Christmas and Easter, as well as other “holy days” celebrated by the Catholic church.  Every day they gathered to worship was a celebration of Jesus’s resurrection, and there was no special celebration needed.  It even went so far as banning the celebration of Christmas, Easter, and other such holidays in England under the rule of Oliver Cromwell.  I believe this to be a bit extreme, but I understand the desire to move away from tradition and seek to follow Scripture.  It can be difficult to break away from traditions with which we have been raised.  I am finding myself, though still celebrating these holidays, leaning away from some of the pomp and ceremony of it all to focus more on Christ.

Lent is not something mentioned or prescribed in Scripture.  I believe this is an area of Christian liberty.  I do not believe someone to be more or less holy based on their participation in Lent.  However, I would urge you to examine the practice for yourself and come to your own convictions.  If you do not practice Lent, I would still encourage you to take time each week, all year, and examine your own life.  Confess your sins and draw near to Christ.  Hopefully you have time for this in your weekly corporate worship, but it is also an important personal practice.  If you do practice Lent, I would encourage you to take this time to focus on Christ more than yourself or others.  Don’t worry about those of us who ignore the practice.  Don't focus on what you are giving up, and know that your worth and standing with God are not changed because of anything you have done.  “...For we have already charged that all, both Jew and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one, no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’...For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.  This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:9-12,22-26)