DALLAS (ABP) — For Mike Clingenpeel and Ray Vickrey, Easter doesn't mean much without about 40 days of reflection and repentance before it.
Though the two men pastor churches in different states — Clingenpeel at River Road Church, Baptist in Richmond, Va., and Vickrey at Royal Lane Baptist in Dallas, Texas — they will both lead their congregations in Lenten and holy week services this year.
Their decision to recognize Lent speaks to a larger Baptist community that, although not historically tied to the tradition, has taken to observing the holiday. And while it might be a confusing trend for some, for others, it's more than just a fad.
Both Clingenpeel and Vickrey said that only through Lent can the “full impact” of Easter emerge.
“In my opinion, the full impact of the Easter message takes affect only when you walk through the dark shadows of the cross,” Clingenpeel said. “It's a penitent season, and the Lenten activities remind us that it's a time for reflection and repentance.”
Royal Lane Baptist, which started celebrating Lent in the 1970s, will have Lenten services every week leading up to Easter, along with a Good Friday service. Vickrey said the service will focus on the sorrow and suffering of Christ.
“We dare not rush to Easter without pausing to look upon the suffering savior,” Vickrey said.
Another Dallas church, Wilshire Baptist, celebrates Lent with a different emphasis in mind. Led by Pastor George Mason, people at Wilshire study the advent season as part of their adherence to the entire Christian calendar.
The 40-day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter, Lent comes from a Germanic root word meaning “spring.” Formerly called Quadragesima, a Latin term meaning “40th day,” the observance usually involves confession, fasting, prayer, meditation and giving.
Lent is more commonly celebrated in Catholic and other liturgical churches. Baptists, who trace their origins to protest movements that withdrew from the established Christian traditions, have looked upon such high-church vestiges with suspicion. But in recent years, more progressive and moderate Baptist congregations have turned to Lent and other ancient traditions to recapture some ancient Christian practices.
Andrew Daugherty, a Wilshire pastoral resident, said the church celebrates all holidays on the Christian calendar, including Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost. It also follows a revised common lectionary — or scheduled scriptural readings — during worship. This year, church members hung paraments from the columns in the sanctuary to symbolize the “color and beauty of the church year.”
“This … uses the framework of the human life cycle to take on issues of the life cycle of faith,” Daugherty said. “Our goal is to use Lent as a time to do a refresher course on the basic teachings and practices of the Christian church across time. We will move through dedication and birth stories, confession and conversion, baptism, discipleship, death and resurrection.”
Doyle Sager, pastor of First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, Mo., said his study of the Christian calendar and the cycles therein have convicted him to “let the Christian calendar speak and not be overshadowed by the secular calendar.” He said celebrating Lent and following the Christian calendar can bear witness to the faith.
“It taps into the desire people have for a rhythm in life,” Sager said. As the Baptist tradition of scheduling revivals in the spring and fall has faded, he said, “I think Baptists have really come to appreciate the rhythm that the Christian calendar represents. Lent is an opportunity to get some of that back.”
Terre Johnson, the minister of music at Vestavia Hills Baptist Church in Birmingham, said his church has celebrated Lent for almost 50 years. The Alabama church, which averages 500 people on a Sunday morning, does it to focus on meaningful days besides Christmas and Easter.
“The thinking of our church is that we observe most of the Christian calendar since we are part of a larger Christian body,” he said. “We focus our minds on that.”
Clingenpeel hopes for the same focus. While River Road has been “a Baptist church since its inception,” he wants his church to join the “larger liturgical tradition” as well.
“It allows us, in a mystical sense, to worship with believers around the world,” Clingenpeel said. “We want to be a part of the Christian community that celebrates that tradition.”
Congregants at Royal Lane take that mentality a step further. They display identical crosses and flowers on their front lawns during Holy Week and share breakfast together as a congregation — all to foster the spirit of community, Vickrey said.
In addition to encouraging Baptist congregants who may not be used to recognizing the Lenten period, Sager said, Jefferson City church finds that many people who grew up in a liturgical tradition long for it. Those who didn't soon come to appreciate it, he added.
“I have found that if you educate the congregation, they really are willing to do these new old things,” Sager said.
First Baptist of Jefferson City has “eased into” its observance of Advent, the season leading up to Christmas. The congregation started by celebrating the Last Supper and Maundy Thursday more than 10 years ago. Lately, it has distributed a Lenten devotional booklet with daily reflections and artistic expressions submitted by church members. Now Sager also incorporates an Ash Wednesday and Good Friday service to boot.
“In the past, the Good Friday service has been avoided because people scatter to the four corners that Friday,” Sager said. “This year I told my staff I don't care if 12 people come to the service, I want to have it.”
Like the Good Friday service, Maundy Thursday services play a large role for Baptist churches that observe Lent. Wilshire, for instance, plans to use the service as a means to emphasize grace. Both Johnson and Clingenpeel said it is their favorite event of the entire Lenten season.
“Maundy Thursday is the most meaningful for me, and I think others would say the same,” Clingenpeel said. “It is a service of light and shadows. We read accounts of the Last Supper and Crucifixion. It allows members to enter into introspection and … to focus on the weight of sin and the cross.”
Despite the somber tone Lent takes, Sager said the “ancient history” brought to light has significance for all believers. He sees his church's participation as part of a growing trend, at least within his circle of ministerial friends.
“I'm in a branch of the Christian church that seems like it's growing,” he said. “When I call my buddies, we all want to know what we're doing for worship and that sort of thing.”
Clingenpeel thinks the number of Baptist churches that celebrate Lent will continue to increase. He said moderate Baptist churches have especially responded to the holiday.
“Some more Southern churches have avoided it because they don't want to be linked with something resembling Catholicism, but that doesn't necessarily concern us,” Clingenpeel said. “We really like being linked with a larger community.”
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