by Dwight Hartman
I didn’t grow up in a church environment. Nope, I’m not one of those Presbyterians- my-entire-life type people. I would go to church as a very young boy (that has been described) for “social and cultural” reasons. I wasn’t even a follower of Christ until my early 30s. I didn’t have a rhythm of spirituality or sense of a church calendar to follow. Those were foreign concepts to me, and maybe to you too.
We enjoy the Reformed, egalitarian (we ordain women) aspect of our Evergreen fellowship. Even though some Christian communities disagree with those two distinctives, they seem well grounded in scripture. As a community, we’ve gone through trials over the years that have forced us to redefine ourselves again and again. Who are we, what are our core values?
So how does Lent fit into our fellowship? Lent is a shortened old English word for “Spring Season.” Its roots are pretty easy to trace; here’s a very short version: It began with fasting as part of a ritual for new followers of Christ before their baptism at Easter. It spread unevenly to all of the early church. The great church councils (Nicea) formalized the rules for fasting and set the start date to 46 days before Easter. By the 800s, the fast was less strict, and by the 1400s, giving something up as a personal sacrifice emerged as a substitute. Fast forward to the early 1500s. The Roman Catholic Church (split with Eastern Orthodox Church in ~1000AD) needed reforming. The early Reformers (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli – among those where we trace our roots) critiqued those excesses and errors. The Roman Catholic Church started a much needed counter reformation (Council of Trent). Lent was one of the practices critiqued by the Reformers. And boy did the smack-talk fly! Reformers had numerous, very real concerns. No time for all those here, but the dangers of works-righteousness and practicing only what scripture establishes were high on the list. Lent was seen as bordering on both. Later Reformers and our Creeds and Confessions have followed suit.
We live in a hyper-individualistic culture. It’s the “don’t tell me what to do” attitude. But I’ve learned I need guardrails in my spiritual walk; I need mature guidance in following Jesus. How then should I understand lent?
For me, Lent shouldn’t be a church-required observance where it “binds the conscience” of believers through a hierarchical church structure.
But it can be voluntary. Lent is not scripturally commanded, but rather a man-made period that has echoes of Jesus Christ’s 40 days of fasting. It is neither morally required nor morally wrong. I’ll let my congregationally-called Pastors and congregationally-elected Elders shape what our worship and fellowship at Evergreen looks like.
For me, Lent shouldn’t be a once a year, holier-than-thou time of self-denial of being an uber-Christian.
But it can be a reminder that we should deny ourselves sinful things, every day of the year. Food and drink are good gifts from God. Fasting (in private) helps us unclutter and move our focus away from material things to spiritual things. Lent offers a time to do just that, if we do so with the right motives.
For me, Lent shouldn’t be only a 40 day period of repentance during the year administered through an intermediary (male-only priesthood).
But it can be a remembrance of when we first turned from our past sins and believed. That begins a lifelong, every-day active practice in our lives as we are being shaped to become a mature follower of Jesus. We repent daily, directly to God, and recognize that act in our worship services with a confession of faith that is followed by an assurance of pardon.
Comentários