What is the purpose of Lent?
You know, the Lenten season that runs from Ash Wednesday (February 22 in 2023) to Easter Sunday’s glory six weeks later (April 9)?
Basically, it’s for Christians to prepare their hearts and minds for the celebration of Jesus rising from the dead.
I’ve written a number of posts about Lent, Holy Week, and Easter over the years.
This post will provide overviews.
The purpose of Lent in the Christian church
Many liturgical churches use the Lenten season to prepare our hearts and remember just what we celebrate on Easter Sunday.
Many denominations use it as a time of repentance and preparation.
Traditions evolved over the years and generally use these forty days as times of fasting, contemplation, or specific devotions focused on Jesus and his ministry.
We honor Good Friday with a Tenebrae service at our church.
Author Amy Boucher Pye wrote a devotional and uses an object lesson to help families honor the Lenten period.
Some church traditions involve “giving up items” for Lent.
“Fasting” from meat, or choosing not to do something, or eat something on specific days, can serve as a reminder of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf.
Of course, we can always give up sin for Lent.
Or at least try to.
The idea is that when you want to eat a specific food, or do a specific item, you use the time instead to meditate on Jesus’ suffering, or to contemplate his sacrifice on our behalf.
It can also be a time of unification as churches hold Lenten services or, in our Lutheran Church, potluck dinners.
Some Christians spend their time viewing and praying through the Stations of the Cross.
During the COVID shutdown year, my church presented A Holy Week Walk–outside.
What does the word Lent mean?
The 40-day period called Lent comes from an old English word meaning ‘lengthen.’
First recorded before 900; Middle English leynte, Old English læncte “spring, springtime, Lent,” literally, “lengthening (of daylight hours)”; cognate to Dutch and German meaning “spring” (only English has the ecclesiastical sense).
Dictionary.com
Holy Week and as the real purpose for Lent
The first five weeks of Lent are preparation for the final Holy Week.
Jesus spent his last days in a human body walking through Jerusalem and ministering to the populace.
You can read the specific daily events of Holy Week here.
I’ve written about the following topics:
Why Raise Lazarus From the Dead?
What Did it Take to Kill Jesus?
Post-Easter Weeks with Jesus’ Disciples
Time to consider other ways of thinking about Lent and Holy Week?
The week before Holy Week in 2022, I heard Dr. Jeanie Constantinou interviewed on the Eric Metaxas Show. Before the show even concluded, I ordered her book.
When it arrived three days later, I read it immediately. (See all the tabs?)
I then jettisoned my planned Bible study, copied all the pertinent parts from my tabs, and put together a 23-page paper full of notes.
I presented that to my study in 90 minutes three days later.
It changed how I view the week, awed–yet again–by Jesus’ death on the cross, and left me marveling at what a gracious God we serve.
I’m teaching adult Sunday School this week out of those same notes.
My post describing the book: The Crucifixion in all Jesus’ Glory
We have to trust what the Holy Spirit guides us as we prepare for Lent, Holy Week, and Easter each year.
This book, and other devotionals and writings–not to mention the Scriptures–presents us with the enormity and purpose of Holy Week.
But not just Holy Week.
Jesus, himself.
Blessings to all readers as we contemplate just who the Messiah is and what he did on our behalf.
Tweetables
What is the purpose of Lent? A list of posts and books to contemplate. Click to Tweet
How to think about Lent, Holy Week, and Easter. Click to Tweet
I think my lungs have lost the plot,
for they now have me believing
that for Lent they think they’ve got
to repent, and give up breathing,
which will be short Lenten fast,
have to give ’em that achievement;
but I think I’d rather last
bit longer, and cause no bereavement
to the wife and dogs just yet,
for it would truly be a bummer
to incur a funeral debt
just before the coming summer,
so BREATHE, you turkeys, I beseech thee
(‘sides, God ain’t prepared to meet me)!
Oh, Andrew! I appreciate your levity, as it causes my heart to sink. Breathe lungs!