This seems like a great time to answer some questions about Lent via e-mail:
Why do we call it Lent? When did Lent start? Why?
The origins of Lent are a little obscure. We're fairly certain that from the earliest days of the church, soon after Christ, people held solemn observances before Easter. That usually meant fasting, a sign of remembrance of and devotion to God. Somewhere along the line the number 40 got attached. That figure is repeated several times in scripture, most notably Jesus spending 40 days in the wilderness. Even though Christ's wilderness trial and his resurrection were on completely opposite ends of his ministry--the first at the start, the second at the end--he concept of fasting/repentance and the wilderness deprivation fit together, so 40 started getting mixed into the observance as the fast was married to that scriptural story.
Even then, though, Lent wasn't standardized. Different places observed fasts in different ways. Historical records show some observed the fast for 40 hours. Others fasted for 40 days but counted "fasting" as abstaining from food before 2 or 3 o'clock and then eating a small meal. Some folks counted six days out of each week for fasting, others five, leaving the weekends open. No matter the variation, the practice caught on and quickly spread. When enough people started doing it the church made an official pronouncement of how to do it right.
For our purposes the key decision about Lent was timing. They wanted 40 days of observance, fasting, repentance, and prayer. For Christians each Sunday is a festival day, a day of joy. Therefore Sundays wouldn't fit with the fast and were excluded from the observance. We were left with 40 days, not counting Sundays, the last of which was the Saturday right before Easter. That breaks down to 6 weeks of 6 days (Monday-Saturday), equaling 36. Where do you get the other four days? You can't continue on past Easter, so you have to add them before the first of those six weeks. Count back and you get Saturday, Friday, Thursday...Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. That's why we always start on a Wednesday.
As for the origins of the name, it wasn't originally called "Lent". Folks were practical back then so they just called it "Quadragesima" [quad-ra-GESS-ee-ma], which is Latin for "fortieth" or "fortieth day". This worked well when the official language of the church was Latin. It became a little unwieldy when church terms started to be translated into people's native languages. (Darn that Reformation!) At that point people just used the word for "spring"...in German "Lenz", in Dutch "Lente", anglicized as "Lent".
Lent remains a time of solemn observance for us. The repentance and self-examination themes have come through unaltered. Most folks have replaced the self-denial of fasting with giving up something for Lent. Many churches still use Lent as a time to learn the catechism in preparation for baptism on Easter...part of its ancient purpose.
Take some time in the next six weeks to reacquaint yourself with God, getting past the bustle of daily life and remembering all of the things that you've forgotten. Take a little of your time each day to pray to him. Take a little of your time each week to join us in a place set apart and dedicated to him and this purpose. It's hard to understand the beauty of Easter unless you've walked this quiet, soul-baring Lenten path to the cross. We invite you to join us for that journey.
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
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