Lent: A Pilgrimage to Easter
By Mercy Dunnam
What is Lent?
Depending on your upbringing or church tradition, Lent may be as familiar to you as the season of Advent, or it may feel very foreign to you. Perhaps every year you notice someone in your local grocery store with an ashen cross drawn on their forehead and you wonder, ‘what’s that all about?”
Lent is a period of 40 days that begins on Ash Wednesday and culminates in Holy Week. The roots of Lent can be traced back to the early church during the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, when the date of Easter Sunday was set, and then later in AD 601, the start date of Lent was set. Since then, this season on the church calendar has been observed by different church traditions around the world.
Just as the time of Advent prepares our hearts to honor Christ the Newborn King, Lent is a time that prepares our hearts to honor Christ the Crucified and Risen King.
The Book of Common Prayer begins the season of Lent with this prayer:
“Almighty and everlasting God, who hates nothing that you have made, and forgives the sins of all those who are penitent; create and make us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (BOCP pg. 124)
A Word of Caution
Scripture does not command Christians to observe Lent, but it does command us not to pass judgment on those who have decided to observe certain holy days or not: this is a matter of Christian liberty (Colossians 2:16-19). While you will not find the word “lent” in your Bibles, the practices observed during this season are grounded in Scripture. These 40 days are a time dedicated to prayer, fasting, and repentance. It is a time of contrition, remembering our sin and remembering our Savior who purchased our redemption with His own blood.
As humans, we tend to take that which is for our good and God’s glory and turn it into tools for our own self-righteousness.
In his book, God’s Way of Holiness, Horatius Bonar says the following:
“If we would be holy, we must get to the cross, and dwell there; else, notwithstanding all our labour, diligence, fasting, prayer, and good works, we shall be yet void of real sanctification, destitute of those humble, gracious tempers which accompany a clear view of the cross.”
These 40 days of prayer, fasting, and repentance are not tools to be used to boost our own ego, but rather serve to help us keep that “clear view of the cross” in mind as we make our pilgrimage to Resurrection Sunday. We should not use these practices to be seen and admired by God or others (Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 6:5-8, Luke 18:11-14).
Lent is not a time to prove ourselves to God by our good works, but to remember we have no good apart from the finished work of Christ. With this in mind, if you are interested in setting aside Lent to prepare your heart for Easter, I will offer some suggestions and further resources on the three practices most commonly observed during this season.
A Sacrifice God Desires
Prayer: Prayer, in its most simplistic definition, is communication with God.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6 ESV
Sometimes we do not know how to pray as we ought, so it can be helpful to pray through the prayers we find in Scripture. Consider taking these 40 days to slowly pray through David’s prayer of repentance in Psalm 51 or the Lord’s prayer found in Matthew 6:9-13. You can also pick up The Book of Common Prayer at your local bookstore; it has a section with prayers and Scripture readings for Lent!
You can learn more about the practice of prayer here.
Fasting: Fasting is when we voluntarily abstain from certain foods, drinks, or other physical comforts that we rely on so that we may turn our eyes to Christ, from whom comes our nourishment and growth.
Scripture gives instructions and examples of fasting (Matthew 4:2, 6:16), while also commanding us not to listen to those who insist on asceticism (the practice of strict self-denial and rigorous discipline, often for religious purposes, see Colossians 2:18-23). In light of this, it’s important to approach fasting with discernment.
Some Christians take these 40 days to abstain from meat or sweets, or to practice a weekly fast from all food. If you would like to fast but need something more approachable, consider fasting from one meal.
Abstinence is a related discipline that refers to putting aside something other than food for a spiritual purpose. Lent is also a great time to consider abstaining from something (social media, TV, alcohol, or anything similarly distracting to you) and redirecting that time and attention to God.
You can learn more about fasting and self-denial here.
Repentance: repentance is when we confess and turn from our sin to receive the free gift of God’s mercy toward us sinners.
Times of repentance and mourning in ancient Biblical culture were often accompanied by “sackcloth and ashes” (Nehemiah 9:1, Daniel 9:3, Matthew 11:21), which is why you see the ashen cross on someone’s forehead at the beginning of Lent. While you may not be in a church that practices this, Christians of all traditions are to offer God a sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart:
“You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” Psalm 51:16-17 NLT
More than extravagant sacrifices, God desires a broken and repentant heart. The spiritual disciplines observed during Lent are helpful inasmuch as they serve to foster that posture of humility and brokenness before a Holy God.
One very tangible and humbling practice to foster this in your own heart and life is to practice confession with other believers. This may seem scary, but it is actually an invitation to receive the grace and forgiveness that is already yours in Christ.
You can learn more about confession here.
However you choose to spend this season, Easter is approaching, and we must set our sights on the cross. The Church has just celebrated Jesus’ birth, and now we await the celebration of His resurrection. Lent is the in-between time. It is a season of night before the bright dawn of His rising; a season of death before resurrection life. Lent is our pilgrimage to Easter, and it begins and ends with Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.
