What is the Season of Lent?

A journey, a pilgrimage! Yet, as we begin it, as we make the first step into the "bright sadness" of Lent, we see far, far away the destination. It is the joy of Easter; it is the entrance into the glory of the Kingdom. - Alexander Schemann

Today in Bakersfield, CA, in the middle of February, it was 69ºF. I sat outside in the warm break from the cold for lunch today, soaking up the sunlight and expectantly anticipating the coming warm ever-sunny spring days that are coming soon. However, with the sun shining in my face, I read a friend's text warning me of the coming wind storm in the next few hours and to tie down anything I didn't want to be blown away by winds. I looked at my weather app, and sure enough, the winds are bringing in a much-needed late winter storm (drought country). I tasted the springtime sunshine, but I will have to wait a little longer. 

Lent is like that last bit of winter storm before the glorious coming of spring (Easter). It is not an irrelevant time but a welcome rainstorm preparing the ground and harvest for the coming spring. Lent requires us to embrace a spiritual gravity, a downward direction of the soul, and a deep turning from our self-sufficiency and sinfulness that so often takes place in the life of a follower of Jesus. This season, we are humbled and made ready to receive from God new life and the new joys of grace.

The word Lent comes from a Saxon word that initially meant "length" and was used to convey springtime (lencton, in Old English). So at least in the northern hemisphere, we observe Lent during a time of year when the days begin to lengthen, and signs of new life begin to appear. The natural world reminds us of the coming resurrection. Lent is 40 days from Ash Wednesday to the Saturday before Easter. Lent is a time of preparation and an opportunity to grow in an abiding relational depth with Jesus.  

Ash Wednesday starts the beginning of the season of Lent. In the past you may have noticed people with smudged, black crosses on their foreheads. Those are ashes they received from an Ash Wednesday gathering at their church. The ashes received on the forehead symbolize two things: Our creaturely mortality as well as our moral culpability. You and I are finite beings and sinful persons who will all, like our savior, taste death. In this realization, Lent is a season of humility before our Creator, who we remember, trust, and celebrate our God, who has redeemed us. Dust is a marker of our dependence, and the ashes are a marker of repentance. That is why the passage is read at Ash Wednesday services: "All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return" (Ec. 3v20, Gn. 3v19).  

The three primary things the church focuses on during Lent are prayer, fasting (meaning abstaining from something to reduce distractions and focus more on God), and generosity.

• PRAYER

  • We dedicate times of prayer during Lent to reorient our need for God's presence in our lives. Psalm 16v11 says, "You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.” Lent is the reminder that our truest joy is found in the presence of God alone. This is also a season for repenting, turning about-face in the other direction away from our sins, and experiencing and receiving God's mercy and love.

• FASTING

  • Lent is a time of fasting, or giving something up, and is a beautiful spiritual practice during Lent. Giving up something that's a regular part of life, such as certain foods/mealtimes, entertainment, social media, or alcohol, reminds us that our identity is only found in our adoption as beloved children of God. These moments of fasting can be replaced with intentional time with God in prayer.

• GENEROSITY

  • Generosity or almsgiving is the intentional discipline of loving our neighbor well. This is doing something that participates in human flourishing in a way that benefits others and glorifies God. It is to be practiced as an overflow of God's grace, generosity, and love toward us. Some people spend time volunteering or giving generously, even sacrificially, to those in need during Lent. 

As we embrace and practice these spiritual disciplines during the season of Lent, it is essential to remember that these actions do not earn us more love from God but instead are ways of spiritual growth in response to the grace of God through Christ. In prayer, we are with Jesus. In fasting, we become like Jesus as we participate in his testing season in the desert. In generosity, we do what Jesus did as we give sacrificially out of our abundance toward those in need. 

Lent is a primary season to grow in our expectancy and anticipation as we move toward remembering our new life through Jesus Christ's resurrection at Easter. A "bright sadness," indeed.

What posture of prayer, fasting, or generosity will you move into over the next 40 days?