Forty Days and Forty Nights
Throughout
the Bible, the number 40 is associated with a time of testing or repentance
(e.g., 40 days and nights of the rains falling at the Flood, 40 years of
Israel’s wandering in the wilderness to the Promised Land, 40 days of Jesus’
fasting and temptation in the wilderness, 40 days between Jesus’ resurrection
and his ascension, et al.).
Therefore,
the Church has adopted a Lenten season of 40 days prior to Easter.
Incidentally, the word “Lenten” comes from an
Old English word
lencten which means
“to lengthen,” as in, the day light hours are lengthening.
Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust
The season
of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. (Ash
Wednesday is March 2 this year.) It is
“Ash” Wednesday because of the Church’s custom to put the mark of the cross on
the head of the worshipers with ashes.
These ashes are a reminder that we are going to die one day. As the ashes are applied, the pastor
proclaims to each person: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will
return,” a paraphrase of Genesis 3:19.
This reminder is awkward and uncomfortable.
But sin and death ought to make us feel
awkward and uncomfortable.
Such a grave
reminder of our sinfulness and mortality is a proper way to begin the Lenten
season.
These forty days are a time of
penitence and reflection.
While the
whole life of a Christian is to be one of repentance, the Lenten season
especially focuses us on our need for repentance.
A “Fast” Season
Fasting is
a practice that has long been observed by God’s people, going well back into
Old Testament times. In fact, our Lord
seems to expect that we will do it. In
Matthew 6:16, he states, “When you fast…”, not “IF you fast.”
Fasting
goes hand in hand with repentance (Psalm 35:13; Jonah 3:7-9) and with prayer
(Esther 4:15,16).
Fasting is a ceremony
by which we express our repentance in a physical manner.
It is depriving ourselves of something
physical to focus on the spiritual.
It
is praying with the body.
Fasting also trains our bodies and souls. We discipline our flesh to teach it that it
is not to control us. We deny ourselves
in those parts of our lives in which we are most prone to temptation. When you
intentionally deprive your soul of what it wants, it has to get by
without. Why is that important? Your desires, uncontrolled, give in to
temptation. They lead you into sin. Uncontrolled desires make idols of what
your soul wants: desiring excess food is gluttony; desiring extravagant
clothing or cars or décor is greed; desiring a man or woman outside of marriage
is adultery. Desiring anything outside
of God’s order makes you an idolater.
Most commonly, fasting involves denying oneself at
mealtime.
It does not necessarily mean
total abstention from food.
Rather,
meals are scaled back.
Instead of eating
three full meals a day, one eats the equivalent of about 1 ½ meals.
The time that one would have spent eating is
then devoted to prayer and meditation.
The money that one saves can be given to the poor or to a charity.
You could also fast in a way that addresses a
temptation or weakness that is particular to you.
Think about what
tempts you, and limit your exposure.
If shopping is your weakness, no shopping
sprees or comfort purchases during Lent. Too much time wasted on the internet,
or visiting sites you shouldn’t be? Only use it at work or when someone else is
with you. If you need encouragement, counsel, or more ideas talk with your
pastor.
Fasting from these areas of
weakness will heighten your sensitivity to them. It allows you to train yourself to put these
cravings to death. And it enables you to
enjoy the festival times all the more.
Should
you choose to observe this discipline, do not feel that you have to go all
out. Perhaps you will limit your fasting
to just Wednesdays and Fridays, as Christians traditionally did throughout the
year. Or instead of scaling all the way
back to 1 ½ meals, perhaps you will simply omit one of the meals, as well as
snacking in between. In any case, fasting
is not something we do to seek reward from our Lord. It is a way that we can more intently focus
on our Lord, to meditate, and to pray.
Note:
Sundays are never fast days, so go ahead and enjoy the good gifts of creation
to their fullest on these days! Also,
expectant or nursing mothers, children, and the ill are never expected to fast
from food, but to provide the nourishment their bodies need.
A Season of Passion
During the Lenten season, the Christian Church generally
increases the opportunities Christians have to pray and to hear the word.
On the Wednesday evenings (7:00 PM)
throughout Lent following Ash Wednesday, Good Shepherd offers Lenten Vespers
(an evening prayer service, from the Latin
vespera,
meaning “evening”).
The focus of Lenten
Vespers is the Passion of our Lord.
The
word Passion is derived from the Latin word
passio
which means “suffering.”
The Lord’s
passion (zeal) to redeem us drove him to his Passion (suffering) for us.
At each Vespers, we will hear a portion of
our Savior’s Passion, beginning with the Last Supper and concluding with the
death and burial of our Lord.
This year
(2022), we will read through the Passion of our Lord from the Gospel according
to St. Luke.
(In other years, the
Passion readings are from the Gospels according to St. Matthew or St. Mark.)
Little Easters
If you count the days from Ash
Wednesday to Easter Sunday, you will get more than forty days. The reason is that the Sundays in Lent are
not counted. They are Sundays in
Lent, not Sundays of Lent. The
focus on these Sundays continues to be the words and works of Jesus, our
Messiah, who battles and conquers sin, death, and Satan for us. While the Lent is a penitential season, the
Sundays in Lent are feast days and serve as “little Easters” even within the
season of Lent.
Farewell to Alleluia
While
Sundays are little Easters, we do not forget that we are in Lent.
To reflect the penitential nature of the
season, we mute the joy and praise in our Divine Services.
This is noticed mainly by the omission of the
Gloria in Excelsis (Glory to God in
the Highest) and the Alleluias.
We also
remove the flowers from the altar during Lent.
As we continue to make our way closer to Holy Week, our fast intensifies.
We will notice that organ music is restricted
to the support of congregational singing.
The
Gloria Patri (Glory be to
the Father) is removed from the Psalms.
Paintings, statues, and icons are either removed or veiled.
The season becomes more somber as we get
closer to the cross, until finally on Good Friday, the altar has been
completely stripped.
These omissions are a
fast for our eyes and ears. Perhaps it
will seem awkward to be missing these things, but that is the point. Lent is a penitential season; therefore, our
celebration is muted. But it all
heightens the joy and festivity of Easter Sunday when all of the beauty, the
music, and the ceremonies are returned to the Church. The sights, the sounds, the smells, and the
Alleluia’s break forth in abundance as we join in worship to celebrate the
resurrection of our Lord and rejoice in the forgiveness and salvation he brings
us.
A Prayerful and Penitential Lent
One more practice you may want to consider this Lenten
season is making use of Private Confession and Absolution.
This is a rite in which the penitent can hear
in a very personal manner the voice of Jesus declaring through his minister, “I
forgive you.”
The order of Private
Confession and Absolution has been made available at the bulletin board so that
you can be familiar with it before you come to your pastor.
The pastor would be pleased to walk through
the rite with you to help you understand the how’s and the why’s.
Confession teaches us to recognize our sins,
and the Absolution allows us to hear Christ proclaim his forgiveness for those
sins that grieve us and torment us.
You
may contact the pastor to schedule Private Confession and Absolution.
May God bless you this Lenten
season as you prepare to celebrate the joys of Easter.
