The Season of Lent

The season of Lent serves as a time of preparation for Easter.  During Lent, we take the time to face the realities of our lives, of our sinfulness and our need for God’s grace, and then turn to God with hope and trust in God’s abundant mercy.  In so doing, we prepare our hearts and minds for our remembrance of Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection.  To help in this, many Christians practice intentional disciplines like prayer and fasting as a way to grow in our faith and in our relationship with God. The season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. The name, Lent, is an old Anglo-Saxon word Lencten or Lenchthen, which means the lengthening of the days approaching spring. In the first century, Lent was only a period of 40 hours in remembrance of the forty hours that Jesus' body was in the tomb. That 40-hour observance ended with an Easter service at 3 a.m.  In the third century, the forty hours expanded to 6 days, known as Holy Week. These were days of strict abstinence. The observance of Holy Week began in Jerusalem in the fourth century, when the days of Holy Week were designated as follows:    Palm Sunday - Triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:1-17)    Monday - Jesus' cleansing of the temple (Jeremiah 7:11; Matthew 21:12,13)    Tuesday - The Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:1-25:46)    Wednesday - Judas agreement (Zechariah 11:12,13; Matthew 26:14-16)    Maundy Thursday - Institution of the Lord's Supper (Luke 22:1-38)    Good Friday - Our Lord's Crucifixion (Matthew 27:32-56)    Holy Saturday - The rest in the tomb (Matthew 27:62-66; 1 Peter 3:19) But Lent didn't stop growing quite yet.  In time, Holy Week grew into thirty-six days, as a tithe of the 365 days of the year.  In the time of Charlemagne, (c. 731 A.D.) four days were added to the 36 to make the present season of 40 days.  The number 40 is appropriate for a time period of purification, as our Lord Jesus fasted and was tempted for 40 days in the wilderness, Moses fasted 40 days on Mount Sinai, Elijah traveled for 40 days on the way to the mountain of God, and the Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness. Some of you may be wondering why Lent consists of 40 days when Ash Wednesday is actually 46 days before Easter. This is because the Sundays in Lent, being festival days, are not considered a part of Lent.

A fun food fact about Lent is the symbol of Lenten prayer.  Did you know pretzels have Christian symbolism?  During Lent, Christians made dough of flour, salt, and water.  They shaped the dough in the form of two crossed arms to remind themselves to pray.  The bread was called "brachellae," Latin for "little arms."  Later this was shortened to "Brezel" or "Pretzel."  This was apparently an ancient practice for

there is a picture of a pretzel in a fifth century manuscript.  Pretzels were a Lenten food and thus only eaten during the period as a reminder to pray more often.         Much of the above information is taken from John R. Brokhoff's Lectionary Preaching Workbook.

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