1700 Years of Lent: One Protestant’s Perspective on the Value of Lenten Observance
1700 Years of Lent: One Protestant’s Perspective on the Value of Lenten Observance
By Melissa Cain Travis
My family and I entered the Anglican church in the winter of 2016. It was still Christmastide (the twelve days that stretch from December 25th to January 5th), a celebratory season of feasting and merry making. During our first several weeks in this new (for us) tradition, as we learned more about liturgical worship and the church calendar, Lent loomed large on the horizon. It all seemed rather strange and depressing; the ashes on your face, all the emphasis on sin and death, fasting from something you love for forty straight days. Still, there was a certain mystique about it since I had no experience with it other than annual sermon series about the events leading up to the Crucifixion. Friends listened to me talk about Lent with expressions of puzzlement or even skepticism, and one even remarked that it sounded like legalism—doing something to earn God’s grace when his grace is (by its very definition) not a thing that can be earned. More on that issue later.
Lent is not mentioned in Scripture, which raises various questions. Why, and at what point in church history, did believers decide that this was a spiritually beneficial practice? These are good, healthy questions to ask of any church tradition. Merely because something has been done for a very long time does not mean that practice is justified—that it genuinely helps us along the journey of sanctification. At the same time, just because a practice is not specifically mentioned in Scripture does not mean it can’t be spiritually enriching. Being extra-biblical (not mentioned in Scripture) is not at all the same thing as being un-biblical (contradicting any Scriptural truth). In what follows, I would like to briefly summarize the emergence of Lent in church history and then explain the spiritual value I find in its observance. Please keep in mind that my perspective is that of a Protestant; the church I attend is evangelical Anglican (rather than Anglo-Catholic). My non-Protestant brothers and sisters may not agree with me on every point.
A Brief History
Lent, the official 40-day fast leading up to Easter, emerged very quickly after the Council of Nicaea (325 AD). In the first and second century church, there were periods of fasting for various reasons, such as a 40-day preparation for baptism that involved catechism, prayer, and fasting, but we have no clear evidence concerning how this evolved into a formalized post-Nicene season of Lent.[1] What we do know is that Lent became pervasive in the post-Nicene Christian world and has remained so within the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and some Protestant traditions.
The Reformers were not unanimous concerning Lent’s value and proper practice in part because, in their view, superstition and legalism had crept into Lenten observance over the millennium that had passed since Nicaea. Examples often cited were the avoidance of meat on specific days and assigned acts of penance. The original focus of the season had shifted from newness of life and freedom through our union with Christ through both his death and glorious resurrection to a compulsory attempt to earn forgiveness and favor with God. The latter involved strict practices of self-denial and penance while immersing oneself in solemn reflection on Christ’s suffering and death. Thus, some Reformers, such as John Calvin, strongly criticized Lent while others, notably Martin Luther, endeavored to bring it back into alignment with holy Scripture and the fullness of the Gospel. Because of how concisely he articulates this renewal, I will here quote Lutheran priest and scholar John Bombaro of King’s College (University of London) at length:
The Lutheran reform of Lent consisted chiefly in Luther’s rejection of works of satisfaction in the sacrament of penance which were traditionally assigned to the penitent during the Lenten season to obtain God’s forgiveness. The reform of the sacrament of penance shifted the onus from the “doing” of the penitent (works of satisfaction) to the absolution of God (Word of forgiveness). Or, put differently, the shift was from the Law to the Gospel… Lent was reoriented, shifting the focus from our fasting to the accomplishments of Christ on Good Friday and Easter morning. Practically speaking, the obligation to fast and other associated Lenten rigors stipulated by Canon Law were replaced with Christian liberty to participate in the Lenten fast because of a desire to be close to God, to enhance faith in Christ and to cultivate greater habits of love for the neighbor. Luther comments on how the Church cannot demand your participation, as if your forgiveness from Christ depended upon it. Likewise, medieval mysticism which intimated that austerity of contrition and extreme self-denial corresponded to the degree one would be forgiven, were replaced with Gospel proclamation and priestly obligation. Trust in the merit of Christ’s atonement rather than your earnestness to merit forgiveness was the message championed from Wittenberg. Luther also underscored the Christus Victor (Victorious Christ) theological motif taught by St. Paul in his New Testament epistles. The Passion of Christ is not an occasion for us to pity poor Jesus, who ignominiously died on the Cross. Rather, the Passion of Christ functions as Law (in that it is our treasonous sin which condemned Him) and Gospel (in that by His Passion He won victory for us over sin). That Gospel aspect is pure victory. And victories are meant to be celebrated. The Cross, then, is the place of divine victory, being of one piece with the resurrection of our Lord.[2]
Luther’s perspective is resonant with the attitude of many biblically mindful Protestants and non-Protestants who find Lent to be genuinely formative in their walk with Christ. It is on that note that I’ll now share my own experience.
Embracing Lent as a Spiritually Renewing Discipline
Sometime just before Lent began in my first year in the Anglican tradition, our Bishop and senior pastor gave a sermon on various ways we might choose to spend those 40 days. I was struck by his comment that Lent need not involve the fasting of food or giving up something we find pleasure in; it could instead be about dedicating time and attention to taking on something specific for the purpose of acknowledging Christ’s atonement for our sin and growing in his likeness. So, I chose to take on a Lenten devotional practice that involved Scripture readings, thematically relevant passages from C.S. Lewis’s works, and journaling. I used a wonderful book entitled Preparing for Easter, which is a structured compilation of this content. To add a symbolic sensory element, I purchased a dark purple journal and a pen with purple ink (the traditional color of Lent) to visually remind me of Christ’s kingship and the gift of my unmerited place in his royal kingdom. I would complete each day’s assignment as I sipped my morning coffee. Of course, there was inherent sacrifice in this routine: I was giving up whatever less important thing I would have filled that time with. Lent of 2017 turned out to be one of the richest periods of spiritual growth I’d ever experienced.
You may be surprised, then, by the fact that I haven’t observed Lent with that level of devotional focus every single year since. I view it as a tradition that can be tremendously enriching when we approach it in a manner consistent with biblical principles. Perhaps its endurance for seventeen centuries is at least somewhat of an indication that many believers around the world and throughout church history have found this to be true. Yet, I absolutely do not regard anyone who does not observe Lent in any formal way to be somehow spiritually deficient. After all, we must always acknowledge the truth of Romans 14.
This year, I do sense the Lord leading me to an intentional immersion in the Lenten season. I need a structured reset for a multitude of reasons, and the timing is exactly right. Moreover (and this is no small thing) being with a community of believers who are walking through this church season alongside me is encouraging, and the Lenten liturgy in our corporate worship adds a beautiful weekly rhythm. My chosen theme is “cultivating joy in a strange land.” In addition to an interdisciplinary study of Genesis, I’ll be reading Dr. Joy Clarkson’s book, Aggressively Happy: A Realist’s Guide to Believing in the Goodness of Life.
If Lent is foreign to you (or even if it isn’t), but you’d like to dip a toe in the water, I suggest signing up for the email devotionals from Biola University. Each one features art, Scripture, and a short reflection. As of this writing, their calendar is not yet updated for 2024, but you can still click to add yourself to the email list. If you want to do something more in-depth, I recommend Dallas Willard’s classic Renovation of the Heart along with the twelve talks he recorded under the collective title, “Healing the Heart and Life by Walking with Jesus Daily.” If you’ve already chosen your personal study for Lent 2024, I’d love to hear about it; please leave a comment!
Notes
[1] For an excellent treatment of this historical issue, see Nicholas V. Russo, “The Early History of Lent,” The Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University, 2013.
[2] John Bombaro, “Lent for All, Part 2.”
— Melissa Cain Travis, PhD, is an Affiliate Faculty at Colorado Christian University and a Fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. She is the author of Thinking God's Thoughts: Johannes Kepler and the Miracle of Cosmic Comprehensibility (2022) and Science and the Mind of the Maker: What the Conversation Between Faith and Science Reveals About God (2018). She serves on the Executive Committee of the Evangelical Philosophical Society and as President of the Society for Women of Letters.
Photo by Thays Orrico on Unsplash
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