Lent For (Absolute) Beginners: Against Being Glum

 

The nuts and bolts are this. Lent is the Church season that comes before Easter, beginning (in the West) on Ash Wednesday,
and ending with the first Easter service. Easter marks the death and resurrection of Jesus, which Christians believe changes everything. It’s the most important festival in the Church calendar. So it makes sense to have another season, preparing us for it.

 

You may well have heard that Lent lasts “40 days and 40 nights”. There are a couple of theories why, but 40 seems to be a “round number” in the Bible. But in fact, from Ash Wednesday to the Saturday before Easter Day is 47 days. This is because the Sundays don’t count. Every Sunday is a Feast Day of the Resurrection, a mini-Easter. So it’s right to remember that Easter is already with us through it all.

 

To be clear: Christians tend to call times when we are encouraged to rejoice “Feasts”, no matter whether a big meal is involved or not. Lent is not a “Feast” but a “Fast”, again, whether or not we cut out some meals. Here “fasting” really means taking time away from distractions to reflect and be honest about ourselves. Like all the Christian seasons, it wasn’t established by Jesus. Rather, it grew up over centuries, as Christians wanted to mark major events in the life of Jesus and the Church. The word “Lent” is probably not originally a religious word. It is probably another word for Spring, for Lent is a Spring season. The tradition of “Spring cleaning” may be related.

 

In normal years, on Ash Wednesday many worshippers have the chance to be marked, usually on the forehead, with ash, usually in the shape of a cross, and to hear words such as these: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ” or “Repent and believe in the gospel”.

 

Fasting. Dust and Ashes. Mortality, Death. Sin, Repentance. This bundle of ideas may well give the impression that Lent is a glum season, a time to feel bad about ourselves. It’s undoubtedly the case that, over the years, it has sometimes been taken in this way. But that doesn’t make it right. Rather, we are to remember that we are dust and to dust we shall return - to remember that we are mortal - that our lives are limited. And all this is really telling us that we are precious. Our lives our precious. Only you will experience this present moment as you. Only you, in the history of the universe. Neither you nor the moment will come round again. So just under the surface is this thought: Are you making the most of your precious, your unique life?

 

Christians (in the West) these days tend not to “fast” in any dramatic way. The custom has grown up of giving up just one or two things, say, meat and television, or puddings and coffee. In any case, the idea is that you give up what’s good for you – or at least not bad for you. (Things that are bad for you are best given up on the spot; you don’t wait for a particular season.) Yes, it can be good to give up good things, for a spell. It’s a way on reflecting on how we treat the things around us.

 

Do we take them for granted? Do we “need” them more than we should? Do we feel we are “not really ourselves” if we can’t lean on them, consume them, make them ours? Can we turn the discomfort we feel when we go without into a prayer to God to help us through? Mightn’t that be a good thing to do in its own right?

 

Lent is also a good time to take up new good things, or more of the good things we have. Here we may think of Bible-reading, other spiritual reading, prayer, or simply sitting still before God and Christ, and of course helping others in really practical ways. These things are good things – good for us. They are not intended as burdens or duties. Lent is an invitation to connect with these good things, and this way of thinking about them.

 

In other words, Lent is the time in the Church year above all others for us to ask ourselves who we are, what we really hold dear, and if and how we might live differently. We can even say it is the season for experiments. Rather than making us feel bad about ourselves, Lent itself is an encouragement to feel good about ourselves. This is because it is based on the conviction that we really can change; we do have the freedom to change. This is why in churches which offer structured “confession”, Lent is a good time to make the most of that, to be freed from our sins by words of forgiveness.

 

But Lent it is never an end in itself. It’s a way of getting us to reflect honestly, so that when we come to all the drama, sadness, pain, joy, surprise, love and forgiveness of Holy Week and Easter, we are that bit more open – honestly open - to what God is showing us there.