The Season of Lent

Lent is a forty day period (excluding Sundays) that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at Easter. Traditionally it is associated with a period of repentance and study, so it is a penitential season. The liturgical colour is purple and the usual adornment of flowers is missing (as with Advent which is also a time for reflection and repentance). The weeks prior to Easter were, in early church times, the period when new Christians were prepared for their baptism which would take place at Easter and a time when those who had been excluded from church would be prepared for reconciliation. This explains why the disciplines of self-examination, penitence, self-denial, study and generous giving which Christians are called to observe with special vigour in Lent became established in this period.

 Many people in our culture still think of Lent as a time for giving up something but for Christians it is meant to be very much more than that. There are opportunities to study and so to deepen our understanding of God and our faith. Giving up a pleasure or taking up a new discipline can help to attune us to different rhythms in life rather than simply our own desires. The Sunday readings and preaching themes in Lent focus on key elements of Jesus’s ministry that brought him into conflict with the powers and authorities of the time. As his face turned towards Jerusalem so our attention is drawn to the cross. Lent culminates in the dramatic events of Holy Week: Jesus’s Last Supper and Good Friday before the light of resurrection appears on Easter Day’s horizon.