The Tradition of Lent
by Pastor Art Lyons
Lent comes from the word Spring.
This morning I wanted to talk to you about the tradition of Lent. What it is and how it came about.
Many of you like myself were not brought up in religious family and you have received Christ mostly within the protestant church and even more so, through non- denominational churches so you may have not heard of some of the traditions that have been around and kept by churches in ages past. Lent is one of these traditions and starts this coming Wednesday which is known as Ash Wednesday and lasts forty six days. But we don’t count Sundays in the Lent season. Lent is traditionally today a forty day fast for reflection on ones personal life. Forty has always been a significant number in the Bible. It is a season of time that God has used for testing, probation and consecration. You may recall the first “forty” in the Bible when God judged the earth and caused the rain to fall for forty days and nights. Later God leads Moses on forty day fast before receiving the Decalogue or Ten Commandments. This is also can be called a time of consecration. The city of Nineveh gets a forty-day warning from Jonah that they would be destroyed. (More on this in a minute) The Children of Israel wander in the desert for forty years (purging). They could have made the journey in 40 days which would have fulfilled their ordained time of testing. Elijah’s time in the wilderness was also a forty day Fast. And most importantly Jesus Christ's own forty day fast in the wilderness. So quickly this morning I wanted to run through the historic chronological events that led up to Lent which the church has held for nearly 1900 years. I want to start out with a tradition that most of you have heard of, that is Christmas. Anybody not heard of that one? Normally happens on the 25th of December right? Any body ever heard of the song The Twelve Days of Christmas? See you know more about this stuff than you thought. Well, the twelve days of Christmas run from the 25th of December to the 5th of January. January 6th is called the Epiphany. The Epiphany is held by some church traditions as the day the Magi visited baby Jesus in the manger. For you who have studied this out, you know the Magi showed up much later on in the scene. The Epiphany on January 6th was to kick off a time of celebrating that Christ has come to redeem the church. This celebration was to crescendo on what is now called Mardi Gras. Now most you have heard of the Mardi Gras correct? This week, actually Tuesday evening, you will be hearing a lot about this. Mardi Gras literally means "Fat Tuesday" in French. The name comes from the tradition of slaughtering and feasting upon a fattened calf on the last day of this celebration of Christ redeeming the church. However, as we all know this celebration has turned into a carnival of sinful indulgence. This leads us to Ash Wednesday. This coming Wednesday at your work, school and out in the shopping malls, you’re going to see people walking around with a smudge of ash perhaps in the sign of the cross, on the middle of their forehead. The origin of the custom of using ashes in religious ritual is lost in the mists of pre- history, but we find references to the practice in our own religious tradition in the Old Testament. The prophet Jeremiah, for example, calls for repentance this way: "0 daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes" (Jer. 6:26). The prophet Isaiah, on the other hand, critiques the use of sackcloth and ashes as inadequate to please God, but in the process he indicates that this practice was well- known in Israel: "Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: that a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?" (Is 58:5). The prophet Daniel pleaded for God to rescue Israel with sackcloth and ashes as a sign of Israel's repentance: "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes" (Dan 9:3). Perhaps the best known example of repentance in the Old Testament also involves sackcloth and ashes. When the prophet Jonah finally obeyed God's command and preached in the great city of Nineveh, his preaching was amazingly effective. Word of his message was carried to the king of Nineveh. "When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes'" (Jon 3:6). In the New Testament, Jesus refers to the use of sackcloth and ashes as signs of repentance: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes" (Mt 11:21, Lk 10:13). At first, clerics and men had ashes sprinkled on their heads, while women had the sign of the cross made with ashes on their foreheads. Eventually, of course, the ritual used with women came to be used for men as well. In the 12th century the rule developed that the ashes were to be created by burning palm branches from the previous Palm Sunday. Many parishes today invite parishioners to bring such palms to church before Lent begins and have a ritual burning of the palms after Mass. Lent is one of the oldest observations on the Christian calendar. Like all Christian holy days and holidays, it has changed over the years, but its purpose has always been the same: self-examination and penitence, demonstrated by self-denial, in preparation for Easter. Early church father Irenaus of Lyons (c. 130-c.200) wrote of such a season in the earliest days of the church, but back then it lasted only two or three days, not the 40 observed today. In 325, the Council of Nice a discussed a 40-day Lenten season of fasting, but it's unclear whether its original intent was just for new Christians preparing for Baptism: but it soon encompassed the whole Church. How exactly the churches counted those 40 days varied depending on location. In the East, one only fasted on weekdays. The western church's Lent was one week shorter, but included Saturdays. But in both places, the observance was both strict and serious. Only one meal was taken a day, near the evening. There was to be no meat, fish, or animal products eaten. Until the 600s, Lent began on Quadragesima (Fortieth) Sunday, but Gregory the Great (c.540-604) moved it to a Wednesday, now called Ash Wednesday, to secure the exact number of 40 days in Lent-not counting Sundays, which were feast days. Gregory, who is regarded as the father of the medieval papacy, is also credited with the ceremony that gives the day its name. As Christians came to the church for forgiveness, Gregory marked their foreheads with ashes reminding them of the biblical symbol of repentance (sackcloth and ashes) and mortality: "You are dust, and to dust you will return” (Gen 3:19). By the 800s, some Lenten practices were already becoming more relaxed. First, Christians were allowed to eat after 3 p.m. By the 1400s, it was noon. Eventually, various foods (like fish) were allowed, and in 1966 the Roman Catholic Church only restricted fast days to Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. It should be noted, however, that practices in Eastern Orthodox churches are still quite strict. Though Lent is still devoutly observed in some mainline Protestant denominations (most notably for Anglicans and Episcopalians), others hardly mention it at all. However, there seems to be potential for evangelicals to embrace the season again. Many evangelical leaders, including Bill Bright of Campus Crusade and Jerry Falwell (now passed away) use to promoting fasting as a way to prepare for revival. For many evangelicals who see the early church as a model for how the church should be today, a revival of Lent may be the next logical step. There are many different ways you can honor Lent. You could read the book “Peace of God” with us as a church pilgrimage or Rick Warren's 40 day purpose Driven Life. This book among others has seemingly filled a desire in the church for a modem day pilgrimage of Lent. You can decide to give up coffee or candy. The idea behind Lent is to do something that will help us relate to the sacrifice of Christ as we approach Easter, the day of celebrating His resurrection. Whether you decide to fast from a regular enjoyment or routine, remember that the Sundays are excluded. We still need a day to celebrate the goodness of the Lord too! |
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