Lent is named after the Anglo Saxon word, Lenten meaning the lengthening of days. In the first three centuries of the church a few days were set aside for strict fasting. By the 4th century this preparation time had developed to 40 days, like the 40 years of the Exodus that the people of Israel spent lost in the desert, like the 40 days of fasting of Moses, Elijah and Jesus. 40 days is a long time to go without food and drink. It's really the maximum a body could stand.
Lent has traditionally been seen as a time of personal meditation, a cleansing of the soul and also a time of preparation for those receiving baptism on Easter Sunday. It begins with a time of penitence, of saying sorry , on Ash Wednesday, much like Yom Kippur.We receive an ash cross on our foreheads as we remember we are dust and to dust we will return.
In the Roman Catholic Church fasting is still practised on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday. In the Eastern Orthodox Church not eating eggs, meat and fish is still common throughout Lent, which is why painted eggs are given out on Easter Sunday and eggs are eaten in pancakes on Shrove Tuesday.
The colour representing Lent is purple and unbleached fabric and in some churches there are no flowers during Lent and all the crosses are covered.
For the Israelites the Exodus meant moving from a situation of slavery,
where they had food and shelter into a situation of great risk, not
knowing where they were going, how they were going to be fed, where
they were going...into a desert! Lent discipline is a bit like voluntarily entering a desert or a time of wilderness.
There are spiritual disciplines that can help us. Silence, prayer, reading the scriptures, fasting... these times set aside for meditation can be a time of creative breakthrough, a way forward.
The Christian journey requires that we take risks otherwise we stop growing as people of faith. We may move away from being respectable and risks are taken with no quarantee of success otherwise they would not require faith, they wouldnt be risks. It is easy to trust God when
things are going well but when the going gets tough then many of us look down and start to sink like Peter, before he walked on water.
Our Muslim friends celebrate Ramadan with a month of disciplined fasting from dawn to dusk. What about us?
Lent is a journey. It's a journey from the wilderness, to encountering God, to the question of identity "Who am I? A journey that takes us through to the healing of others, the denial of those called friends, accusation, trial, torture and death.....and finally resurrection.
It's a journey we all can identify with, we can all opt in to one or other of the experiences of Jesus. What are you going to do during Lent to clear our minds and our lives and to allow the Spirit of God to work something new in us? The number 40 represents a change; we have 40 days to reflect and maybe to enact change, with God's help.
There are books that can help us on that journey. There are organised times of prayer and reflection. The choice is ours.
We may choose to go into a desert or we may be driven there like the Israelites. We may already be in that desert, or on the edge of it. It may help us to be with others or to be alone.
Servant Christ help us to follow you into that place of quiet retreat,
knowing that you will be with us, even in the deserts and the times of
sinking and drowning. Amen.
