12 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. Mark 1:12-13
A few weeks ago, I mentioned in a sermon a Luther quote in which he said he must continue to be a pupil and student of the Small Catechism. His point was that even he, the learned Martin Luther, needed to continually review and live in the basics of the Christian faith. As a pastor, I have found that to be quite true for myself, too. I have found that to be especially true for the Church Year as well. It is often so easy to come to church and to forget about the season we are in, and how that affects the readings, the service tones, the hymns, the prayers, and other parts of the service. As we continue in the season of Lent, I wanted to take a little time to review the various parts of Lent, and what it is all about. I am heavily indebted to my old professor, Dr. Timothy Maschke, who taught me about the Church Year and for his book, Gathered Guests: A Guide to Worship in the Lutheran Church, which helped to serve as the basis for this article.
Name and Origins: Since Easter celebrates the most important event in Christ’s life, His resurrection, the Church did a period of preparation for it. In the early Church, baptismal candidates would be baptized at the Easter Vigil. The period before when candidates would be taught became known as Lent, which comes from the Latin word “spring.” An easy way to remember this is that Lent always occurs during spring.
Length: In the year 325, we have the first specific and recorded reference to the number of days for Lent, which is 40. This was recorded at the Council of Nicea. Later, these 40 days became associated with other events in Scripture that involved the number 40, events like Jesus being tempted in the wilderness for 40 days, and the wandering of the Israelites in the desert for 40 years.
Themes: The season of Lent is a time of repentance and preparation for Easter. To help keep with the solemn nature of Lent, and to reflect the theme of repentance, alleluias (which are a word of praise) and the Gloria in Excelsis are not sung. However, that does not mean that the Gospel is not proclaimed, not preached for the season, or brushed aside. As Lutherans, we still emphasize the Gospel as much as ever during this penitential time. This point is brought out in how we talk about the Sundays in Lent. In Lent, Sundays are NOT “of Lent” but “in Lent.” As a result, our Sundays keep an Easter tone and can be less solemn than our midweek services.
Color: The color for the season of Lent is purple. This color depicts royalty and self-discipline. To make the color purple, the cloth would be dyed in the blood of a snail. Such a process was not only expensive, but also time consuming, and would require much self-sacrifice on the part of the maker in terms of time and attention. As a result, purple became the symbol of penitence. Purple is also an alternative color for Advent, which is also a time of preparation and repentance.
I hope this little article helped you to review the basics of the Lenten season, and that it will help you to see new things this year. Blessings to you as we continue this season!
Pastor Kooi
(Originally published in Emmaus Footprints, Vol. XXV, Number 8, March 2024.)