“Lent: Why Do We Do That?”
“Repent, therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.” Acts 3:19 (NRSV)
I know, I know! For weeks, local stores have been telling us Easter is coming. From chocolate eggs and baby chicks to soft bunnies and artificial grass, the signs are all around us. At the present time, we are a couple of weeks into the Lenten season as we prepare for what is to come but remains just out of reach. Since Ash Wednesday (February 18), we have been fasting so as to prepare for the events of Passion Week (particularly Resurrection Sunday). For some of you, this observance may be new while for others it may be one with which you have been familiar for some time. I was not raised in a tradition which observed the various seasons of the Christian Year. Sure, my home church had an Advent wreath for the Sundays approaching Christmas and a cross on Easter Sunday adorned with purple, but not much emphasis was placed upon preparation. In fact, it was not until I entered my first ministry over twenty years ago that I discovered something called a lectionary of weekly readings and learned that a Communion Table runner is not always a certain color because it matches the sanctuary carpet.
You may wonder why we do what we do when we come together as it does differ from some congregations with which you are familiar. The colors of the worship banners change from time to time, the bulletin identifies a particular Sunday by the season, and we often have responsive elements in the services. This form of worship is known as liturgical which comes from the compound Greek word leitourgia meaning “the work of the people.” While it has evolved over the years, its origins are found in the synagogue worship of the Jewish community and practices continued by early followers of Christ. The aim of liturgical worship is to create a space in which worshipers become a part of the service rather than bystanders who observe worship. This was a concern for early reformers such as Martin Luther who challenged the tendency for worship to become a spectacle performed by clergy and divorced from the people. Liturgical worship seeks to encourage involvement from worshipers through elements which foster participation and engagement of the senses.
At the present time, we are observing what is known within the Christian tradition as Lent (a Germanic word meaning “spring”). The term also means “to lengthen” which is appropriate for this time of the year as daylight grows longer and with the time changing on March 8. During the forty days of Lent (which does not include Sundays), we are encouraged to abstain from certain enjoyments or to add practices which are beneficial to our faith journey (prayer, journaling, solitude, and the like). The observance of Lent developed between the second and fourth centuries serving as a period of preparation for baptismal candidates (who would be baptized on Easter Sunday). Although we are not preparing to be baptized on April 5, we are invited to think about that which can separate us from God and the need each of us has for God’s grace. The season also addresses human mortality and reminds us (as the words of Ash Wednesday state), “You are but dust and it is to dust which you shall return.”
But, let us be honest. Who really likes to think about human sin nature and the limited duration of this life? As unenticing as it sounds, it is something with which we must wrestle. Now, that is not to say we must sit around counting our sins and waiting with dread for the day of our passing. That would indeed be morbid and unhealthy to the kind of life which God longs to breathe into us. What Lent does do is give us the time and space to acknowledge we are sinful people who are worthy of separation from the holiness of God. During this time, we are to humble ourselves so we can respond with confession and repentance. The humility is emphasized by the symbolic imposition of ashes in the shape of a cross upon the forehead on Ash Wednesday. We may be fallen people with bodies of flesh and bone, but the cross is that which can reorient our lives, remove the penalty of sin, and reassure us that, as great as this life is, the best is yet to come.
Together on the Lenten Walk,
The Reverend Kelley Smart