the season of Lent

Lent is the season in the Church year that starts with Ash Wednesday and covers Good Friday.  It’s a season of death: both with the observance of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial as well as a time for us to be aware of our deadness and dying.  But, ultimately, it’s a season that points in another direction…because the path of Lent brings us to the door of Easter.  It anticipates resurrection and new creation, always looking toward the promise that through Christ’s death, there is Life.

Lent spans forty days (not including Sundays) and was originally intended to imitate Jesus’ withdrawel into the wilderness for forty days.  It’s traditionally a concentrated time of preparation for Easter Sunday, characterized by soul-searching and reflection.  During this time of remembering Christ’s death, we also recognize our own mortality:

we don’t live forever.
we have patterns and habits that break our shalom with God and others.
we are weak and need strength from God and others.

Lent encourages us to respond to these realizations, to embrace our frailty and the forgiveness of God, to be mindful of and confess the ways in which we sever peace.

In light of the example of Jesus, the Church is invited to imitate him during this concentrated period of time. During Lent, together as a community we attempt to respond to God’s invitation:  “Come back to me, with all your heart.”  [Joel 2:12]