What is Lent?

February 25 07 slutz 3 comments

Why are we observing Lent?

This week we are entering into the church season commonly called “Lent.” The word Lent comes from the old Germanic term for Spring, but became associated with the period (40 days) before Holy Week, which culminates with Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

For many of us, Lent is associated with Roman Catholicism, but historically, Christians of all stripes have celebrated Lent since the early Church.

liberti will be observing Lent because we believe it offers us a valuable opportunity to more deeply experience our union with Christ, through giving ourselves to special periods of self-examination, repentance, and service. The goal of Lent is to prepare our hearts for the observance of Christ’s sacrificial, atoning sacrifice on Good Friday, and to celebrate his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

The common practice of “giving up something for Lent,” though easily misused as an empty, ritualistic gesture, can also be a type of fasting which causes one’s heart to long more deeply for God.

Lent is a journey with Christ; a journey with Christ will inevitably focus on his death and resurrection. Galatians 2:20 captures the goal or destination of this journey well: “I am crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Lent is a season to put to death sinful patterns, and celebrate new life, through Jesus Christ!

Romans 6:1-14 also captures this Lenten spirituality well, and will be read every week in our worship services during Lent. We encourage you to memorize this passage over the next few weeks.

Lent is a season to walk with Christ on the road to the Cross. In addition to the practices mentioned above, we may deepen our union with Christ through:

• Suffering like Christ, and comforting others in their suffering, like Christ (2 Cor. 1).
• Loving and serving others sacrificially and humbly like Christ (Mark 10:42-45).
• Setting aside special times of prayer like Christ (Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 9:18, 28; 22:39).
• Willingly letting go of good gifts in order to draw closer to God, such as fasting from food, particular food or drinks, TV, MySpace, etc. (Joel 2:12-13).
• Becoming more conformed to the image of Christ in our beliefs and behavior (Rom. 12:1-2).
• Turning to Christ in conviction and repentance (Psalm 51 and the other penitential psalms: 6, 32, 38, 102, 130, 143).
• Taking hold of the means of grace: reading the Word (read one of the Gospels. Read the Psalms, especially the traditional “messianic” ones. Read Isaiah if you didn’t finish it during Advent); memorizing Scripture; Prayer, alone and with others; intentional fellowship with other believers in our worship services and home meetings, etc.

During the six Sundays of Lent before Easter, we will not be celebrating the Lord’s Supper. Instead, we will set aside the time normally devoted to that during the service for self-examination, and feeding on other means of grace.

One of the reasons God commands us to examine ourselves is so that we would “recognize the body of the Lord” when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and not take the bread and cup “in an unworthy manner,” (1 Corinthians 11:17-34).

The next time we will celebrate communion together will be when we celebrate the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday (the Thursday before Easter). We anticipate that not having communion in our services over the next few weeks will feel very jarring, but we believe this will help deepen our sense of need for the Cross, our appreciation of the glory of the Cross, and our anticipation to feed again from Christ.

We pray that we will all be drawn closer to Christ during this season of Lent!

February 28 07 Susan Bertolino wrote:

I have never understood Lent, just like I don’t understand Valentine’s Day, wedding anniversaries and birthdays. Why do we chooose one time of year to do what seems to be our calling? Does that get us off the hook for the rest of the year or does that mean we focus on something else? I am not trying to provoke argument here, but there is such a long road between empty ritual (giving up something for Lent, avoiding communion) and doing a spiritual act with mindfulness. Having come from a strict ritualistic background, I learned to distrust “times of year in which I do such and such for such and such amount of time.” It makes me think of what St. Augustine called Empty Vanities. I don’t mean this as criticism, even though it may sound harsh. I honestly wish for obedience with awareness, not going through the motions. If the time of Lent brings people closer to Christ, then it is all for the good. But if we do it under the dictates of a dogma, I will sit out. I try to grow closer to Christ daily be it Advent, Pentacost or name your time. I don’t always do it well because of my weakness. I know what you are saying here ,Steve, and I respect it because you write with a pure heart. But how many are doing what is required out of duty, not out of genuine love? Hypocrisy comes in all forms, even the semblance of prayer and fasting. Yuk.

Okay, now I’ve done it—stirred the pot. No offense was meant to anyone—these are just my genuine feelings.

February 28 07 Steve Lutz wrote:

Susan—no offense taken. I didn’t grow up observing Lent either, but have grown to appreciate and desire the vibrant faith that often is lost beneath the ritual.
In voicing your concern about “empty vanities,” it sounds like you’re paraphrasing Isaiah 58. God is definitely not into empty religion or ritual, and neither are we. How we can draw closer to God, without hypocrisy, is one of the themes we will be exploring in the blog during Lent.
Does a special season let us “off the hook” the rest of the year? Not at all. Rather, it serves as a sober reminder that we easily forget the basics of the Good News, and need them pounded into our heads again and again.
I like how one author put it: “The Prodigal Son amongst the pigs is
a profound image for Lent. It is a time to “come to our senses”, leave the distant countries we have journeyed in and return to our Father’s house.”

March 04 07 Susan Bertolino wrote:

In considering your blog, I was thinking of these words from St. Augustine from Chapter 6 of his Confessions. He was torn between the desires of the flesh and his need for God, yet he struggled with making that final step and feared God’s judgment all the same:“Perish every thing, dismiss we these empty vanities, and betake ourselves to the one search for truth! Life is vain, death uncertain; if it steals upon us on a sudden, in what state shall we depart hence? and where shall we learn what here we have neglected? and shall we not rather suffer the punishment of this negligence? What, if death itself cut off and end all care and feeling?”

How many of us, be it Lent or whatever time of year even have that consciousness? I know I didn’t until it was forced upon me through a series of adverse circumstances. I just looked at Isaiah 58 and I do see your point, but I felt more influenced by Isaiah 1 in which God tells Israel his disgust with their blood-stained hands offering burnt sacrifices in his name. Perhaps that is my ultimate point. I tire of false belief; I don’t pretend to be on target and right with God, but what you (the Christian community) may call Lent, is something entirely different to me.

Call me crazy but lately there have been parts of the Gospels that have been speaking to me in odd ways, almost as though Jesus was warning me of something. The Lent you describe can only come, I believe, with a clean heart and a willing spirit, possibly through fasting and prayer, because let’s face it, we are dunderhead humans who couldn’t even understand Jesus’s words when he walked the earth and spoke of earthly things. How then, can we approach the mystery of his death and ascension? The more I contemplate these things, the more humbled I am in what I am unable to know. I like how you say that we need the sober reminder, but God help the person who won’t take it at face value because God does have a way of showing us sooner or later. Does that make sense or do I sound like I’m on drugs?

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