February 24, 2023
A Lenten Journey
I mentioned last week how seasons of faith are connected to the story of salvation in the scriptures, primarily the story of Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection, the ascension of the Son, and the descent of the Holy Spirit. I also suggested that an image for Lent is a journey with Jesus on the way to Jerusalem, as he taught his followers more clearly what it means to follow as a disciple.
On Ash Wednesday an invitation was offered to us all for an “observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word.” These Lenten practices in the Western churches originated from Lent originally being a season of preparation for those to be baptized at Easter, as well as those who were excluded from the church because of a “grievous” sin to be brought back into communion with the church on Maundy Thursday. For these people then, this was a season of rigorous spiritual preparation for entrance into, or return to, the church. Now, we who are baptized are invited in this season to consider how well we are doing in our journey of faith, and to use the season to spend extra time and energy fortifying our faith. I will be using Lent this year as a season for us to consider our church’s spiritual practices, particularly in worship, and their meanings which may or may not be familiar to you.
Our seasons of faith are marked by colors, like the colors of leaves on a tree mark the seasons of the year. Epiphany began and ended “white,” the color of God’s revelation in Christ, in particular the resurrection. For this reason, we have white on our pulpit and use white stoles in Epiphany, All Saints and Reign of Christ Sundays, the Sundays of Easter, and at funerals. This speaks of God’s gifts of salvation and resurrection, our being washed “white” from our sins, and our joy in the hope of Christ.
Lent is purple. It speaks of penance and repentance as well as preparation for a holy life. Our worship services have a familiar structure throughout the year: we gather together from the world, we hear and reflect on God’s Word, we respond to God’s Word with our lives, and are dismissed into the world to serve in Christ’s name through the Holy Spirit. But each season we do things a bit differently, reflecting the theme of that season. In Lent we gather by confessing our sins and receiving an assurance of being pardoned by God. We then respond by inviting the mercy of God to sustain us in this season. This is known as the Kyrie, from kyrie eliason, which is Greek for “Lord, have mercy.” At the same time, we will neither sing nor say “alleluia” (Latin) or “hallelujah” (Greek) in Lent, making the contrast of our journey on this side of the Cross, distinct from the journey with the risen Christ on the other side of the Cross, a season filled with alleluias—“praise the Lord!” This practice, known as “burying the alleluia” is a discipline of waiting similar to our Advent discipline of waiting.
I invite you to see our worship throughout the year as a spiritual discipline which forms the categories of our faith and the signs, words, and gestures we use to express our faith. I also invite you to supplement our Lenten services and offerings with practices on your own—maybe tried and true, maybe new and unfamiliar. Some examples are reading a spiritual autobiography, reading through a book of the Bible, revisiting the reflections on the psalms we wrote, or setting aside an hour a week to meditation or contemplation to simply listen to what God might be saying to you. But mostly I invite you to pray for us all at First Covenant Church and our on-going growth in Christ, even as we pray for the church universal and our sisters and brothers around the world who, like us, struggle to find the ways God has called us to be the Church in these challenging times.
A blessed and holy Lent to you all, my dear friends.
~ Pastor Todd