Lent Begins...

The season of Lent is a mystery for many in evangelical Christian circles, and that is a loss. The Lenten journey refocuses our attention on Jesus' journey to the Cross and asks us to participate in that journey intentionally and together. Lent represents the 40 days before Easter Sunday and, as many of you who are well-read in your Bible know, 40 is a number of great meaning in the Bible. In particular, the 40 days of Lent bring our minds back to the Israelite stay in the desert for 40 years, Noah's 40 days and nights of rain (Noah and family were actually on the boat a lot longer than 40 days and nights), Jesus' 40 days of prayer and temptation in the desert and the 40 days following the Resurrection.

Regardless of the numerological references to 40, Lent is a time of self-reflection, repentance, prayer, fasting, reading Scripture together and fellowship with a focus on acceptance and lifting up of one another. The history goes way back into the earliest church. The time of Lent was especially important, perhaps even created for, those who would become new Christians through baptism. For 40 days before Easter, the catechumens (those who are being trained into the faith) - who have been studying the faith with mentors and other congregants for about 3 years - come together as a group and begin a period of fasting, prayer and Scripture study to prepare themselves for baptism. On Easter Eve, or Dark Saturday, they would gather in the back foyer of the church. The Easter service was just after midnight. As the service began, the ready-to-be-baptized would be led down a dark corridor and, just off the main sanctuary, they would be baptized. Then the new Christians, dressed in glistening white gowns, would be led into the sanctuary. It would be lit like the sun with thousands of candles to celebrate the new light of Christ in the world. There, the new Christian would be surrounded by their new family. A great celebration would ensue and would culminate in the newly baptized members of the church being led forward to partake of their first communion.

It sounds romantic and almost mythic, but the Lenten preparation and the welcoming of the newly baptized is a well-documented process from the early church. For myself, as a modern-day Protestant who mistrusts authority and any group that would have me as a member, the imagery and stories of this discipline and ritual fills me with nostalgia and desire. Some churches, particularly the Methodists and the Lutherans, are trying to recapture this beautiful and powerful way of bringing people into the family and body of Christ. Some have done it this way for almost 1900 years - the Eastern Orthodox, the Egyptian church, some of the Northern African churches.

For us, in our little church in the mountains, though, Lent is a time to remember who we are and whose we are. We will take time to reflect on what Christ has done for us, to pray and study what has happened and is happening in our relationship with greater things than ourselves and to remember that we are created beings who owe everything to our Creator.

We will begin with an Ash Wednesday service on February 25th at 7pm. For the Wednesdays of Lent, we will experiment with an intuitive, reflective way of reading Scripture called "lectio divina". We will follow Jesus to the Cross during the 6 weeks to Easter. I hope you can join us!
Peace!
Pastor Seth

(image is from Cerezo Beraebo)