From the Pastor: Observing Lent

Dear friends,

On Ash Wednesday morning, I got a phone call from a woman I do not know. She was interested in knowing why liturgical churches use ashes on Ash Wednesday—what exactly it meant. I did the best I could in explaining it, and she seemed satisfied.

But it reminded me once again that not everyone knows the whys and the hows of the Christian year. I thought about this again at our February Council meeting, when, for our opening time of sharing, we talked about what we remembered about Lent from our childhood. Those who grew up in Lutheran, Episcopal, or Roman Catholic homes generally had clear memories. Those who did not have that experience as children have found Lent to be something new.

My earliest memory of Lent entailed riding my bicycle the two miles or so from my home to my church every Wednesday morning for six weeks to take part in a high school Bible study my pastor was offering. Often in Chico during that time of year it was foggy or rainy, and it always was dark when I left the house. We gathered in the warm church kitchen, had a little breakfast, and then talked about the Bible—one of the gospels, as I recall. (I have ever since associated Lent with dark and damp mornings.)

For a number of years, Lois and I have regularly “given up something” for Lent. Usually it is desserts and sweets, and wine. (We’re fond of ice cream and often have wine with dinner, so this is not a small sacrifice!)

I went through a stage of advocating, not “giving something up” but “taking something up”—regular Bible reading, more disciplined prayer, some kind of social ministry, etc. I still think that’s a good idea, but the “giving up” is also important, it seems to me. It is an important way of training ourselves to be not so attached to the things of life. It is a form of discipline—not a word we like to use, but an important word in the Christian vocabulary (and one, in case you missed it, that is closely related to “disciple”).

The writer to the Hebrews said some really tough things about discipline. “Don’t regard it lightly,” he began. “If you are left without discipline, then you are illegitimate children.” But he went on to say that God disciplines us “for our good, that we may share his holiness” and while all discipline “for the moment seems painful,” it yields peace in the end.

The “old Adam” in us tries to tell us that this kind of discipline has no to do with God disciplining people; it doesn’t have anything to do with self-discipline. But of course it has everything to do with it. When we choose to give up good stuff for Jesus, when we choose to take up our small cross, we are taking on a discipline that comes finally from God. It isn’t punishment, training in godliness. It is, in a profound way, God’s gift to us, the gift of a great love that actually cares what we do, that hates to see us encumbered or ensnared by anything less than that love, and that longs to teach us how to give ourselves wholly to God and to forsake the rest.

The end of all this is that we learning to give up life itself. We admit that on Ash Wednesday, don’t we? “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” For the hundred percent of us who will one day die, it is indeed salutary to begin early on to be weaned away from the devil and all his pomp. Not that the devil is to be confused with chocolate, or wine, or anything else in particular; it’s not those things that are the fundamental problem with us. It is rather the hold that they have on us, and the way they distort and confuse.

So by all means, “take up something” for Lent (I recommend “taking up” our midweek Lenten services for starts!). But think about “giving up” something, as well. Discipline is a good thing. It’s the way of a disciple.

Peace to you,

Pastor Richard O. Johnson

Classic Prayers

O Christ,

you take upon yourself all our burdens so that,

freed of all that weighs us down,

we can constantly begin anew to walk,

with lightened step,

from worry towards trusting,

from the shadows towards the clear flowing waters,

from our own will

towards the vision of the coming Kingdom.

And then we know,

though we hardly dared hope so,

that you offer to make every human being

a reflection of your face. Amen.

--Roger Schutz (1915-2005), brother in the Taizé community

(an ecumenical Protestant monastery in France)

Liturgy Notes: A Quiz about Lent

(1) What is the liturgical color for the season, and what does it represent?

(2) The duration of Lent is 40 days; why?

(3) Trick question: How many days from Ash Wednesday to Easter?

(4) The Lenten banners at Peace contain the inscription “INRE”; what does that mean, and where does it come from?

(5) What does the word “Lent” mean?

(6) What does Mardi Gras have to do with Lent?

(7) When did Christians begin observing Lent?

(8) What was the original purpose of Lent?

(9) What word, often used in worship, is omitted during Lent?

(10)What happens at Peace that marks Lent as a special time?

Answers:

(1) The liturgical color for Lent is purple, which symbolizes repentance or royalty (the royalty of Christ).

(2) Forty days is a common Biblical period of fasting and penitence, e.g., Jesus fasting in wilderness for forty days.

(3) Forty-six. The reason is that in calculating the forty days of Lent, the Sundays are not counted. Traditionally Sunday is never a “fast day” because it celebrates the resurrection of Christ. This, incidentally, is why we refer to the Sundays “in Lent” rather than the Sundays “of Lent”—technically, the Sundays aren’t part of the season!

(4) This is the abbreviation for the Latin phrase, “Jesus Christ, King of the Jews,” the inscription put on the cross above Jesus’ head.

(5) The word itself comes from the old English for “spring,” the calendar season when Lent always occurs.

(6) “Mardi Gras” means “Fat Tuesday,” and it is the day before Ash Wednesday. The history seems to be that on this day, a household would want to use up all the foodstuffs that would be banned during the Lenten fast, so lots of goodies were prepared—cakes, pancakes, rich foods of various kinds. In England, the day had a more sober title: Shrove Tuesday. “Shrove” is the past tense of “shrive,” which means penance or confession. “Shrove Tuesday” was thus the day before the season of penance began.

(7) We have evidence of a forty-day pre-Lenten period as early as the fourth century.

(8) Originally Lent probably began as a period of preparation for baptism; baptisms typically took place at Easter, and so this was a time of catechesis and teaching. It soon became also a time of penitence for those already baptized.

(9) “Alleluia” (“praise the Lord”). This is a particularly “Easter” word, and so it is generally omitted from liturgies during Lent, to be brought out again with great fanfare at Easter.

(10) In addition to the various changes in the Sunday liturgy during Lent, Peace has for many years had a midweek Evening Prayer service, at which we focus on some particular theme for the season (this year on the Lord’s Prayer).