Lent 1C, 3/9/2025: Why Lent? Why is this part of the church calendar, and why do we observe it each year, just before Easter?

The thought behind the question, and why I start that way, is that I have heard from a number of Episcopalians throughout the years that they don’t like Lent. It is too dark, too solemn, too unhappy. The joy of Easter and Christmas are great, the elevated vibe of Epiphany and Pentecost are good, even the middling vibe of Advent is good –Jesus’ birth is great, the warnings of the Second Coming, meh but brief. 

But Lent, I’ve been told, is just a drag. Its theme is repentance and its message is that we are sinners before a holy God who does not tolerate evil. Therefore we need to repent and make a turn from our ways in order to be approved by God. And that’s a message that one, is not fun or joyful, and two you may not relate to in your understanding of what God is like. 

I get it, it can be a drag. It can be a real bummer. 

To address that, I want to read for you the part of the Ash Wednesday service called the “Invitation to the observance of a Holy Lent.” Part of that prayer reads this way: paraphrasing here, because Easter was a day to baptize converts to the faith and restore to full communion those who had been separated from communion because of sin, quote, “the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith. 

“I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.“

If Easter is about forgiveness and new life from God, then Lent is about remembering what needs repenting and turning away from. It is a time of reflection and self-examination, to find the areas in us and in the world around us that aren’t in alignment with the will and desires of God so that we know how and where to turn godward in order to make it right. 

Lent reminds us that there is brokenness in the world, and sometimes within us, and that this should not be, and should not be allowed to continue in that state. It helps us from skipping over the process of repentance that leads to forgiveness and straight to the new life from God. 

It’s not a fun process, nor an easy one sometimes, but it is an important one. How can you have restoration without repentance, after all? 

So here’s the to-do for us these next weeks of Lent; consider where one of the spiritual disciplines may be used to engage the meaning of the season of Lent. Spiritual disciplines is a fancy way of saying different practices that Christians have used to engage their spiritual sides, and taking from what I said before about the observation of a Holy Lent, they include quiet moments of self-examination, regular times of prayer, fasting & abstaining, and reading & meditating on holy writings.

Maybe these next weeks you can set aside 5 minutes in the morning before you start your day for quiet prayer, so that your day will be holy and good. Or end each day with the compline service from the prayer book. It takes less than 10 minutes to pray that service. Or pray the morning office from the prayer book, which takes about 15 minutes. If you’re interested in these but don’t know who to do it or where to start, let me know and I can help you with that.

Maybe these next weeks you want to try regular fasting as a part of prayer, and a reminder that our dependance is on God, or abstaining from something as a way to make new habits that are healthier for your heart, soul, and well-being. Abstaining from things that are not good for your soul can do tremendous good for one’s mental health, and Lent is an appropriate time to do so. 

Or maybe these weeks you would want to regularly read each morning something from the Bible or another writing that inspires you to good thoughts and to love those around you more – something that helps you to bring more goodness into the world, whether that be poetry or the writings of people who are working to bring peace, justice and love to the world. You have about 6 weeks to read through the four Gospels. Two chapters a day, probably 10 minutes, should be just about right to get you to Easter.

My invitation, and my own intention for these 40 days of Lent, is to take this season seriously. To not just let it pass by like any other week of the year, but to be intentional about it and engage in the disciplines, in order that it may reach down into our hearts and souls, that we would be inspired to turn godward and find joy and life in God. 

So together with you, my friends in Christ, may we find this season to be not simply a bummer, but to be holy. May we make room in our schedules and in our lives for God’s spirit to speak to us and to turn our hearts. And in doing so may we find even greater joy and life as God revealed it to us through Jesus Christ.