What's With Lent Anyway?

 Christianity is responsible for many of the most popular holidays in the West. One TOP TEN list ranks these as:

1. Sunday (The Lord's Day) Most observed.Thank Christians for the end of the weekend!
2. Christmas- Many folks' favorite holiday!
3. Halloween (All Hallows Eve)- Yes, it has Christian roots.
4. Easter Day- chocolate makers "Black Sunday"
5. St Valentines Day- originally remembering a martyr, now romance!
6. St Patrick's Day- The gift of the Irish to beer makers!
7. Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday)- originally a therapeutic letting off steam before the austerity of Lent.
8. Good Friday
9. St Andrews Day (More in Scotland & Eastern Europe)
10. Epiphany (more in Europe than the US)

- Source: http://listverse.com/2012/11/04/top-10-christian-feasts-you-probably-celebrate/

The Christian Calendar is structured around "Feasts" and "Fasts". Americans will note that we would call some of the "Feasts" listed above "party days."

While Ash Wednesday has seen an increase in interest recently, Lent - a whole Fast Season - has gone the way of most Christian seasons in practice- being reduced to a single day: Ash Wednesday (preceded by a big party- Mardi Gras.) 

Beyond that, the actual observance has arguably been shifted from the original Biblically inspired 40 days, to the six intervening Sundays- which have become a hybrid of the Feast Day Our Lord Jesus Christ, sprinkled through with Lenten practices of perhaps more focused confession and the elimination of "alleluias". We might call this "Lent Lite."

I the interest of full disclosure, Jesus seemed to like a good party- or at least he was accused of that by his detractors. And, it should be also noted that his disciples did not fast, as John the Baptist's did, and were criticized for it. So, in those ways, our current practices are consistent with Jesus'.

The creation of the season of Lent resulted from the realization that experiencing Resurrection requires practice and preparation. You simply don't get to Resurrection without it. And the single most important focus is self-denial. This goes beyond repentance and penitence. Our sense of personal sin can become self-reinforcing if we live with a constant focus on it.

The antidote is focusing on God, and serving others.

Following Jesus' teaching in the sermon on the mount- the Gospel reading appointed for the Ash Wednesday service- the church has identified three main practices that especially leading up to Easter will form us as disciples of Christ, and prepare us to experience Resurrection: prayer, fasting and alms-giving.

Here is Jesus teaching:

Alms-giving:

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.- Matt. 6: 1-4 NRSV

Prayer:

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“Pray then in this way:

Our Father in heaven,

    hallowed be your name.

    Your kingdom come.

    Your will be done,

        on earth as it is in heaven.

    Give us this day our daily bread.

    And forgive us our debts,

        as we also have forgiven our debtors.

    And do not bring us to the time of trial,

        but rescue us from the evil one.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. - Matt. 6: 5-15 NRSV

Fasting 

“When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don’t make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won’t make you a saint. If you ‘go into training’ inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face. God doesn’t require attention-getting devices. He won’t overlook what you are doing; he’ll reward you well.- Matt. 6: 16-18

And Jesus sums it up this way:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. - Matt 6: 19-21 KJV

It seems that the reasons for Lent still exists -that intentionally following the three practices in some form for forty days will better prepare for experiencing the Passion of Christ, and may in fact produce longer habits (40 days- six weeks- is the time it takes to break or create a habit).

So, perhaps Lent presents itself as an opportunity. What will we make of it?

The concluding prayer for Ash Wednesday in Evangelical Lutheran Worship sums it up well:

Merciful God, accompany our journey through these forty days. Renew us in the gift of baptism, that we may provide for those who are poor, pray for those in need, fast from self-indulgence, and above all that we may find our treasure in the life of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.