We are about to enter a new season in the church calendar, Lent – that forty-day penitential season modelled on Jesus’ time in the Judean desert that helps Christians prepare for Easter.
When I was at theological college Lent was marked by a definite change in the worshipping life of the community. On Ash Wednesday, there would be a Holy Communion service with the imposition of ashes (the signing of the cross with moistened ash on the forehead) and instead of Common Worship for Morning Prayer we turned to the Book of Common Prayer with its focus on the confession of sins and the mercy of God.
Elsewhere, people choose to observe Lent in different ways. I was impressed last year to learn that some in our parishes had chosen to give-up chocolate or wine and/or to commit themselves afresh to reading Scripture or Christian books. It is good that a negative ‘self-denying’ discipline be accompanied by a positive ‘life-giving’ discipline (e.g. money saved on chocolate given to charity, or time spent away from the Television in prayer). I’ve not given-up anything during Lent since 1998! However this year I feel inspired to do so (you can ask me what in due course).
Generally, in society, there is a residual awareness of the concept of fasting during Lent, but it is often trivialized. The purpose of ‘spiritual discipline’ is lost in a world that values material comfort and is uncertain about how to pursue a healthy human spirituality. Richard Foster explains that the spiritual disciplines can be a path to ‘inner transformation and healing’, but we stray when we think that God automatically rewards our efforts. Choosing to fast during Lent is about saying that there is something more fundamental to my human existence than the physical and material (‘one does not live by bread alone’ - Luke 4.4). It is also about repositioning ourselves before God in such a way that we are better placed to receive grace. ‘As we travel on this path, the blessing of God will come upon us and reconstruct us into the image of Jesus Christ’ (Foster, 1980).
