What IS Lent Anyway?

Although I grew up in a Christian home, Lent was not a season we practiced. In fact, I don't recall thinking much about the topic until I was in college and working at ABC Studios in San Francisco. One day, a group of my co-workers left for lunch and came back with black smudges on their foreheads. I was taken aback because these weren't the saintliest bunch you've ever seen. None of them had exhibited any real outward Christian behaviors, and in fact many seemed to go out of their way to live rather worldly lives. It appeared that attending the local temple on Ash Wednesday was merely a religious rite that they participated in due to tradition, or curiosity, or perhaps a feeling of piety.

Fast forward 8 years and I am working at another company. As if the players are the same and the roles are simply cast, a similar group of people leave work and come back with the familiar smudges. No one seemed particularly thoughtful about the experience or talked about the intense truth of what it represented. I've heard testimonies of Lent experiences littered with curse words and crass statements, and have encountered more Christians that joke about Lent than those that genuinely honor it.

For this reason I have always seen Lent as somewhat serious and somewhat of a joke. Which may explain why I gave up Target for lent, then spent $80 there last week, and then actually felt convicted about it!

I am truly a conflicted soul.

I decided that instead of living in ambiguity, I would research it just a bit and share my findings with you, the discerning reader. That way, we will no longer be able to plead ignorance in our treatment of this season. And in the end, we will be required to make a decision.

To honor and respect, or to dismiss.

(wikipedia used here)
Lent, in most Christian denominations, is the forty-day liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter. The forty days represent the time Jesus spent in the desert, where He endured temptation by Satan.

The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial — for the commemoration of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus during Holy Week. Holy Week recalls the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Lent is a time to prepare our hearts as we remember and honor the greatest event this world has ever seen... The greatest Savior this world has ever needed.

Penitence is "feeling or expressing humble or regretful pain or sorrow for sins or offenses" and is synonymous with repentance which adds the implication of a resolve to change.

Psalm 51.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.

5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.


Let's review: If I choose to honor Lent, I should be committed to prayer, penitence, giving and fasting. I should be thoroughly taking a look inside my heart and life and bringing it before God to be approved by Him. Anything revealed that grieves Him should be put away.

Ash Wednesday

From www.americancatholic.org
Those who work with liturgy in parishes know that some of the largest crowds in the year will show up to receive ashes on Ash Wednesday. Though this is not a holy day of obligation in our tradition, many people would not think of letting Ash Wednesday go by without a trip to church to be marked with an ashen cross on their foreheads. Even people who seldom come to Church for the rest of the year may make a concerted effort to come for ashes.

The first clearly datable catholic liturgy for Ash Wednesday isn't seen until somewhere around 960 AD. By the 11th century it was customary for all to participate on Ash Wednesday, though it wasn't actually called that until later. The Ash represents penitence, calling to mind several OT scriptures. In Job 42, he repents "in dust and ashes" after he gets a true glimpse of God in His glory. In Jonah 3, the King of Nineveh removes his robes ans sits in ashes as a sign of his repentance. Repenting in ashes is also seen in the New Testament.

During the ceremony, the priest or minister says one of the following when applying the ashes:

Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.
— Genesis 3:19

Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.
— Mark 1:15

Repent, and hear the good news.
— Mark 1:15

My conclusion?

I have decided that the season of Lent is a beautiful opportunity to connect with God at our rawest, most human level. We are invited to approach Him in all of our ugliness and offer it to Him with a sober heart. We are encouraged to turn away from the things that don't please Him, or don't reflect Him. We are challenged to fast (ideally) or to give up something that matters to us as we pursue intimacy with Him.

And we are embraced in our brokenness and strengthened from the inside out. All of this is because of what we celebrate at the end of the season.

Jesus ROSE.
He LIVES today.
He FORGIVES.

I don't dislike Lent. In fact, my husband reminded me that a few years ago our Pastor spoke on it and I gave up chocolate and he gave up meat. He told me that he remembered it being a particularly meaningful experience. Honestly, I remember being somewhat curious about the whole thing, and I was pretty annoyed when I got invited to a chocolate making factory with my department at work. No joke. They even handed out plates of it for all to partake (and no, I didn't).

I think I just haven't seen it lived out often enough.

I do have a friend now who is fasting one day a week during this season, and she's praying, and she's sincerely pursuing God. That has encouraged me.

So here is the challenge:

If you are going to acknowledge Lent - then honor the spirit of what it represents and be in prayer and repentance before your God.

If not, then I say forego the smudge and grab a frappuccino instead.