MONTGOMERY, Ala. (ABP) — Jay Wolf, pastor of First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., recently had a conversation with his youngest daughter about the season leading up to Easter.
“Some members of her class were considering giving up chewing gum for Lent,” he recalled. “I tried to explain to Alex that the season of Lent went far deeper than giving up some food item or physical pleasure.”
But for some Protestants, including many Baptists, not much is known about this traditional holy season, other than the idea that it means giving up something – from candy or caffeine to broccoli or brussels sprouts.
“As a general rule, Lent is not important to Baptists. However, it should be,” said Wolf. “Lent provides an opportunity for believers to prepare our hearts for the extraordinary event of Easter. The days leading up to remembering the death, burial and resurrection of King Jesus should serve as a type of tenderizer for our hearts.”
The season of Lent is a period of 40 days — not including Sundays — leading up to Easter. In the first centuries of the Christian church, Easter generally was observed in conjunction with the annual Jewish Passover feast. Later, it was decided that Easter would fall on the Sunday immediately following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. That's the timeline most Christian churches continue to follow.
This year Easter will fall on March 27, so Lent began on Feb. 9, observed as Ash Wednesday. If you were out that day, you might have noticed worshipers from Catholic or some Protestant churches with smears of ashes on their foreheads. In some churches, palm branches are saved from the previous year's Palm Sunday services and burned into ashes.
“Ashes are a symbol of repentance and mortality,” said David Murray, pastor of First United Methodist Church, Hueytown, Ala. “From ashes we were made and to ashes we will return. The time we have to live is limited and should not be trifled away.”
At Ash Wednesday services, congregants are invited to come forward and have the sign of the cross drawn on their foreheads, using the ashes. “This mark is a symbol that we are united with [Jesus] in his suffering and death,” Murray said.
Lent has always been a season of fasting. The celebration of Fat Tuesday developed in ancient Rome as revelers enjoyed one last day of feasting and celebration before the solemn Lent and its fasting. The tradition spread through Europe, picked up the name “Mardi Gras” in France, and made its way to New Orleans with French settlers.
Leaders in the early church called for a strict fast during the Lenten season. Some denominations still call for periods of fasting during Lent. However, most common today is the tradition of giving up a favorite food or activity for the 40-day observance.
“The way people observe Lent is as individual as they are,” Murray said. “Lent is a fast. It is a denial of something in order to pursue something greater.”
“Some people give up television. Others fast a meal a day or a day a week,” he said.
By making a small sacrifice of something they enjoy, Christians may find they have a daily reminder of the much larger sacrifice made by Jesus.
“People today also may observe Lent not by taking something away but by adding something,” Murray said. “They may find some new way to grow in their faith, maybe by serving others.”
Christians who haven't done so in the past might make daily Bible reading a priority, or perhaps begin a new Bible study. Pastors agree that how Christians observe Lent is not important. What is important is that they use the time to grow in their faith and prepare their hearts for Easter.
“Lent is not to be an end of itself, but rather a means to bring us to Easter, the centerpiece celebration of the Christian faith,” Wolf said.
— Frances Pace Putman is a correspondent for the Alabama Baptist.