“[God] gives them the seasons, each season different yet every year the same, … He gives them in His Church a spiritual year; they change from a fast to a feast, but it is the same feast as before” (Screwtape Letters 25).
The Liturgical Year is an ancient series of feasts and fasts which help Christians seasonally focus on the redemptive work of Christ.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and covers a period of approximately six weeks before Easter Sunday. The traditional purpose of Lent was to prepare believers to reflect upon the sufferings of Christ through prayer, repentance of sin, giving to the poor and self-denial The Lenten Season is observed in various forms by Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and a few Protestant Churches such as Anglican and Lutheran.
During Lent, many Christians commit to giving up certain types of luxuries as a form of repentance and self-denial. Many Christians also seek to strengthen their own spiritual walk with Christ through daily devotions, study of Scripture and concentrated prayer.
The duration of Lent is traditionally described as lasting for forty days in commemoration of the forty days in which Jesus spent fasting in the desert. There he withstood the temptations of the devil before beginning his public ministry (See Matthew 4).
Understandably, many evangelical Protestants have strongly questioned the practice of Lent saying it appears to be a means of gaining merit before God through performing personal acts of righteousness (Philippians 3:4-8). Often they cite Ephesians 2:8-9 to point out that the grace of God, not our good works, is the basis for salvation.
But a biblically oriented Lent observer would likely respond that the purpose of this time is not works righteousness. Instead it is a special season to reconnect with God by saying “no” to our sin nature and “yes” to the new nature (Romans 13:14; Ephesians 4:20-24). It also a time to more deeply opening up our hearts to the Holy Spirit’s filling (Ephesians 5:18; Galatians 5:16).
By saying “no” to sinful habits in the Spirit’s power we are dying to self will. The Apostle Paul writes: “Mortify (Νεκρώσατe i.e.,”put to death”) therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). The season of Lent is only a vehicle for making this kind of deeper yieldedness to God a more concerted focus.
C. S. Lewis said: “Because Nature , and especially human nature, is fallen it must be corrected and the evil within it must be mortified…” Yet Lewis observes that the Christian life is also one of celebration: “ feasts are good, though today we fast” (p. God in the Dock, p 158, “Some Thoughts.”)
The idea of dying to self can seem a very negative idea. But the principle of life springing forth from death is central to Our Lord’s teaching.
Speaking of his imminent death on the cross Christ proclaimed: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). His death on the cross was followed by the life giving power of resurrection and the redemption of countless souls.
As Christ attended to the will of His Father and not His own, he challenges us to follow him in the same path of obedience. In the call to discipleship Christ gave this command: “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” ( Luke 9:23).
Whether or not you choose to use Lent as a seasonal vehicle for spiritual renewal, what ways have you found helpful in strengthening your walk with the Lord?