Lent
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For Lent, 1966 by Madeleine L’Engle
It is my Lent to break my Lent,
To eat when I would fast,
To know when slender strength is spent,
Take shelter from the blast
When I would run with wind and rain,
To sleep when I would watch.
It is my Lent to smile at pain
But not ignore its touch.
It is my Lent to listen well
When I would be alone,
To talk when I would rather dwell
In silence, turn from none
Who call on me, to try to see
That what is truly meant
Is not my choice. If Christ’s I’d be
It’s thus I’ll keep my Lent.
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“Lent is a time for discipline, for confession, for honest, not because God is mean or fault-finding or finger-pointing but because He wants us to know the joy of being cleaned out, ready for all the good things He now has in store.”
- N.T. WRIGHT
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“But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from everything we’ve done wrong.” I John 1:9
Psalm 51
A Lenten Offering: What is Lent and why is Lent Observed?
by Joyce Maddox
Lent is a 40 day (6 weeks minus Sundays) period leading up to Easter. It is a liturgical holy season of the church, steeped in tradition, with emphasis on prayer, repentance, fasting and almsgiving. It is still observed by many Christians today (Anglican, Catholic, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist and Lutheran). It is drawn from Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the wilderness and brings to remembrance the fulfillment of God’s promise of a Savior to Adam and Eve in the garden.
It is a period of intentional and sober inner reflection on our own brokenness and a time for reflection on our personal need for Christ’s redemptive sacrifice on the cross and what Jesus, in His love for us, accomplished—something we can never hope to do ourselves.
I love that this year Lent comes early and begins with Ash Wednesday on February 14th, Valentine’s Day—so reflective of our Jesus’ passionate and self-giving love for us!! The Lenten season ends on Maundy Thursday commemorating the evening Jesus took the form of a servant and washed His disciples’ feet, when He prophetically began the fulfillment of the the final Passover meal celebrating the Last Supper with His disciples. The next three days are the days of preparation of Easter—Holy Weekend: Good Friday, the day of Jesus’ tortured crucifixion and death; Holy Saturday, Jesus time in the tomb; and Easter, culminating in the exuberant and joyful celebration of Jesus’ resurrection and victory over sin and death.
In the Lutheran church I attended, Ash Wednesday observance included the imposition of the ashes (from the previous Palm Sunday fronds gathered from worship)— a smudge on the forehead applied with the pastor’s thumb in the shape of the cross came with the personal pronouncement, “Remember, in dust you came and in dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). The ashes were to be received in a heart posture of repentance, humility, and mortality, reminding the believer of their need for forgiveness and of their fragility and short span of life on this earth.
I remember that is was the beginning of a somber season of reflection, worship time filled with the discordant notes of the hymns joining the mind and heart in sorrowful repentance, and the cessation of the celebration of the Eucharist, Holy Communion, until it resumed Maundy Thursday. This was an especially sacred observance of the Last Supper as we remembered the promise of the New Covenant obtained through Christ’s sacrifice, the pouring out of His body and blood.
In this season of decrease, of humbly laying aside self (John 3:30), some believers seeking strengthening and purification of their love for God, observe other Lenten traditions like giving something up for Lent or fasting. Some Christians give up physical pleasures (eating meat, sweets, alcohol, social media, reducing distractions), while others choose to focus on Scripture reading, prayer, or meditation.
Even if your faith tradition does not observe Lent, I pray that these 40 days will be a time for you to pause, to reset, and to reflect—to identify sin patterns, repent, and receive the Lord’s lavish love and forgiveness. To take time to consider those things, the habits and the often hidden hindrances—even the blessings, that are sometimes barriers to living into full communion with our Lord. My hope for each of us is that these days leading up to Easter will be a rich time of fasting, of laying down our comforts and desires, to refocus our eyes, hearts, and minds, offering our open hearts to our loving, tender-hearted Lord as His beloved,
“My song is love unknown,
My Savior’s love to me,
Love to the loveless shown
That they might lovely be.
Oh, who am I
That for my sake
My Lord should take
Frail flesh and die?”
~My Song is Love Unknown, LW #91, verse 1
In humility with much love, Joyce Maddox
