Inhabiting the Christian Year: Lent
This is part 5 of a series exploring the Western Christian year (liturgical calendar). For other posts in this series, click a number: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8.
On Ash Wednesday we are reminded that, left to ourselves as sinful mortals, we are but "dust and ashes." We are destined to die. In that way, Ash Wednesday sets the tone for all of Lent---a tone of "humility, simplicity, sobriety and even sorrow" (Living the Christian Year by Bobby Gross, p. 128). That being said, we should not think of Lent as a season of overwhelming, debilitating sadness. As one theologian has noted, Lent is a season of "bright sadness," a season during which
[Updated 2/4/2020]
Cycles of Light and Life
Following the introduction, so far in this series we've looked at Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Together, these three seasons of worship comprise what is sometimes called the cycle of light because all three focus on the coming/revelation of Jesus, the light of the world and the light of life (John 8:12). That cycle is then followed in the liturgical calendar by the cycle of life, which includes Lent (called "Easter Preparation" in Grace Communion International), Easter and Pentecost---three seasons focused on the purposes for which Christ came, namelythe self-giving sacrifice of his life to free the world from the domain of Satan and thus secure forgiveness and healing for the peoples of the world. Consequently, as we reflect on both the cycles of light and life, we are drawn into the inescapable fact of how the birth and death of Jesus are of a single piece, a garment that cannot be rent in two without doing violence to the Christian message. (Ancient Future Time by Robert Webber, p. 95)As Webber notes, these two cycles in the worship calendar are also tied together in the way they
follow a pattern of expectation, fulfillment and proclamation. Advent is expectation, Christmas is fulfillment, and Epiphany is proclamation; Lent is expectation, Easter is fulfillment and Pentecost is proclamation. Thus there is a historical progression into both Christmas and Easter as well as spiritual procession from each. When we recall and relive the experience of God's people who pilgrimage into and out of the incarnation or into and out of the death and resurrection, we mark our own spirituality with expectation and fulfillment. (Webber, p. 95)
Looking at Lent (Easter Preparation)
In most Western Christian traditions, Lent is a 40-day-long season that begins with Ash Wednesday and extends through the end of Holy Week (with Sundays excluded in the count of 40 days). The last three days of Lent are thus Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday (called the "sacred Triduum"). As noted by Robert Webber, Lent prepares us for Easter by leading us "into the very heart of the paschal mystery, the death and resurrection of Christ" (p. 96). |
| Jesus' Temptation in the Wilderness (public domain via Wikimedia Commons) |
On Ash Wednesday we are reminded that, left to ourselves as sinful mortals, we are but "dust and ashes." We are destined to die. In that way, Ash Wednesday sets the tone for all of Lent---a tone of "humility, simplicity, sobriety and even sorrow" (Living the Christian Year by Bobby Gross, p. 128). That being said, we should not think of Lent as a season of overwhelming, debilitating sadness. As one theologian has noted, Lent is a season of "bright sadness," a season during which
we become especially mindful of the sinfulness that alienates us from God, indeed, of the human evil that nailed Jesus to those rough beams. And thus we lament with sadness. At the same time, we understand that by his death Jesus secured for us forgiveness and eternal life. We are like prisoners whose release draws near or refugees on our way back home or patients for whom the cure is working. Lent is sobering, but it leads to Easter!....
Even as we prepare for the anguished hours of Good Friday and the unfathomable silence of Holy Saturday, we anticipate the glorious joy of Resurrection Sunday. These six weeks [of Lent]... are like walking in a still darkened valley even as the morning sun lights the tops of the mountains around us. Bright sadness, indeed. (Gross, pp. 128, 129)The Scripture readings specified by the Revised Common Lectionary for each Sunday during Lent lead us to consider the two sojourns of Jesus that book-ended his public ministry: his time in the wilderness, being tempted of the devil, as his ministry began, then his time on the road to Jerusalem as his ministry drew to a close. During Lent, the Word and Spirit lead us to relate personally to both of these sojourns as we
look inward and acknowledge our human and spiritual vulnerabilities [and] look outward and weigh the cost of discipleship. Both involve... repentance. And while we usually don't put ourselves [during Lent] in a desolate environment for forty days, we can choose a posture of humility and undertake practices that sharpen our spiritual awareness. These include prayer and Scripture meditation, moral inventory and behavior change, fasting and other forms of abstinence, acts of generosity and service. As Jesus entered the desert keenly aware of his baptism, during Lent we too rehearse and reaffirm our own baptismal promises.... As we turn inward and turn Godward, we can trust him to turn toward us with spiritual grace (see Ps. 138:6, Jas. 4:6). (Gross, p. 128)While Epiphany ends the the cycle of light by emphasizing the glory of Christ being made known to the world, Lent begins the cycle of life by turning our attention from light to shadows---pointing us to
[Jesus'] increasingly hostile opponents, his growing heaviness of spirit, and his ominous talk of betrayal and death. With the disciples, we grow uneasy, almost appalled. Human sin, corrupt powers, even raw evil comes into view.... We start Lent by joining Jesus in the place of solitude, we continue by walking with him toward Jerusalem and we end by kneeling beside him in dark Gethsemane. All along the way---the desert, the road, the garden---Jesus is tempted to go a different way, one that avoids anything like the cross. Repeatedly he says no. (Gross, pp. 131, 132)It's important to note that the disciplines we voluntarily practice during Lent are not ways we try to earn God's favor. Nor are they ways we try to make a public display of piety. Instead, they are ways by which we seek to turn from a "self-centered stance to a grace-filled humility" (Gross, p. 134). They are also means by which we seek to break the grip upon our life of unhealthy appetites and destructive addictions. This does not mean that we are trying to overcome sin on our own strength. Instead, it means that, through these disciplines, we enter vicariously into the sacrificial humility of Jesus Christ who "was wounded because of our rebellious deeds, crushed because of our sins; he endured punishment that made us well; because of his wounds we have been healed" (Isa. 53:5 NET).
[Updated 2/4/2020]