The Lenten Season
Lent is a time that I did not grow up with, therefore as I got older I had to learn and understand the reasons behind the celebration. As we speak on the history of this season and understanding what it is, we can appreciate the richness of the season even if it is not something that we are completely familiar with. As I begin to research and write about Lent I am astounded at the amount of reverence and honor that the season gives to the Lord. Let us start at the beginning.
History
Lent is a 40-day season of preparation for Easter that begins with Ash Wednesday. Lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, meaning “lengthen” and refers to the lengthening days of spring. Early Christians felt that because of the significance of Easter that there needed to be a time to prepare for this special date. In the Canons of Nicaea (A.D. 325) we find the first documentation of a period of 40 Days that consists of fasting as the Christians prepare for Easter. Additionally, there is evidence that before being baptized on Easter, those who were preparing would spend 40 days in fasting before their baptism. This eventually turned into a tradition that has now been the whole church celebrating and preparing for the return of the King.
The 40-days are a representation of two different passages of scripture, the Israelites spending 40 years wandering in the wilderness.
3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them. -Deuteronomy 1:3
As well as, Jesus’ time of temptation for 40 days and nights.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”-Matthew 4:2–3
During the Lenten period, Christians take the time to fast, pray and seek after the Lord. This comes not just with a fasting of nourishment, but also with a fasting from certain habits or parts of life that they feel like they need to abstain from. This happens over the 40-day period with each Sunday during that period not being included in those 40 days. These Sundays represent almost a mini-Easter continually preparing for the Easter celebration. Today, Christians use this preparation as a time of betterment as the dive deeper into understanding themselves.
Lent in the Church
I would like to give four points that I think will help the congregation in our churches learning about themselves and prepare themselves to dive deeper into the victory that the Lord has given through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice.
- Let it Go
This is not a reference to the famous song from Disney’s Frozen but rather, a challenge for your congregation. Help the congregation be able to give up some things such as Social Media or food or other things that can distract us from developing in-depth relationships with each other and with the Lord. This can be done through challenging your congregation each week during Lenten Season.
2. Dive In
As we have challenged our church families to give something up for Lent we also will challenge them to dive into the word and the Lord as well. Help your congregation by providing them with reading materials or devotionals or passages to read during each day. Practice this concept of diving in church-wide, as it will help the church feel as though they are not alone.
3. Serve
Give your congregation the opportunity to do something out of their comfort zone and serve somewhere that will give them the chance to do something different for their community.
4. Share
As we have seen all these different objectives, we want to make sure that we are able to help our congregation share the life change that is happening with each other. This can happen in small groups and with leaders and volunteers all together, making sure that there is nothing that the Lord is telling people that gets lost during this time.
Throughout this special time of Lent we can understand why it occurs, as a time of preparation for Easter as well as a time for those in the church to take some time and give up some things that have been distracting them from the betterment of themselves. Lastly, if we all as a church make sure that we do it in community, that we are not alone, through the four steps provided above, we are able to celebrate together our Savior’s victory in His resurrection.
(Fairchild, Mary. “Learn What Lent Means to Christians.” Learn Religions, Feb. 11, 2020, learnreligions.com/what-is-lent-700774.)
