Devotional 3-10-08

Musings About Lent

The Holy Season of Lent has arrived once more, but what is it? How did its observance originate? And what a peculiar name – “Lent.” Where did that name spring from? It’s not the fuzzy stuff on the filter of the clothes dryer – that’s LINT. Well, could it be the past tense of the verb “to land?” No. That doesn’t fit. So, curiosity drives me to research, as best I can, to discover the meaning of the word “Lent” and the history of this sacred observance.

As we all know, Lent is the preparatory period leading up to Ester, the climax of the spiritual year. But, what I didn’t know is that the word “Lent” itself means “lengthening spring days.” It evolved form the Indo-European langat-tin, “long” plus “day.” Come to think about it, Lent does occur in the season when each day becomes noticeably longer. The ever brightening days add to the feeling of hopefulness and optimism that we get as Easter approaches.

Well, so much for the name; but, what about origins and history?

As you can imagine, in the years after the apostles had passed away (the post apostolic period), the bishops noticed that the piety of many of the rank-and-file Christians was declining. The bishops cast about for a ritual or a celebration that would increase people’s devotion. They noticed that many Christians reserved a period prior to Easter for fasting, confession and penitence to commemorate Christ’s suffering. This time was also used for schooling candidates for baptism on Easter Eve. So, you see, the practice appears to have originated with ordinary people – not from an official edict. The bishops decided to formalize the observance, if you will, but it was slow going.

Different groups of Christians followed different customs – fasts varied from 40 hours in Rome to as much as several weeks. The practice of fasting for 40 days minus the Lord’s Day, Sunday, gradually became popular due to the religious significance of the number 40 -- it occurs many times in the Bible. By the fourth century, that time frame had become more or less universal among Christians. But it did not become official until the eighth century.

Now that 1300 years have come and gone since our holy season of Lent was formalized, how do we observe Lent today?

We have special services, drama and music; partake of the sacraments and to some extent -- fasting and sacrifice. Perhaps, for some the remembrances are enough. After all, nothing we can “give up” can compare with what Jesus endured on our behalf. Let us not forget, also, that this is a special time for penitence, thankfulness and self-denial. If we are ever going to offer prayers of gratitude, it should be now.

A prayer for Lent

Oh, Heavenly Father,
Please accept our sacrifices and prayers of gratitude that we offer at this time of year to commemorate the suffering that your son endured in order to show us the way to eternal life.

Please help us was we strive, like to many millions of others down through the centuries, to emulate the savior when you sent to be our example of living.

We ask this in his own name, Amen.

Charlie Lewis