Lent is often thought of as a gloomy time when Christians deny themselves the good things in life and go about moaning over their sins. The focus of lent has changed with the culture. It began as a time when new members prepared for their Baptism. They spent the time in fasting and learning so that they would be ready when their time came to be Baptized. This would have made lent a time of great anticipation and intense preparation. This is more like our current understanding of Advent than Lent for the end of the time of preparation is a time of joy and acceptance. Lent focuses on Easter not on Good Friday. While you cannot consider the Resurrection without the crucifixion, a crucifixion by itself is nothing more than an execution. It is in the assigning of ultimate worth to the tragic events of Jesus’ death that the true character of Lent is found. Yes, life is hard and often times very tragic, but that cannot mean that Jesus’ life or our lives are meaningless. In the same way that the Resurrection gives meaning to the Crucifixion Easter gives meaning to Lent. Saint Paul states this awesome truth this way. We have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (NRS Romans 6:4-5)

What this awareness actually does for us is it moves us from a place of despair, where our lives and our suffering is pointless and without meaning, to a place where there is great hope and true value place on our lives. Remembering our lives before Christ has value because it leads us to place a greater on the gift of Jesus Christ. Dwelling on our life before our hope had come does not. Lent should not be a time spent beating yourself up. If God has released us from our sins, the least we can do is grasp the hope that has been offered and give thanks for it.

Lent then becomes a time to prepare for transition. To prepare for the newness of life that we have in Christ Jesus as a result of his life, death and resurrection. Because we have already received the hope, because we already know the end of the story we must temper our Lenten Journey so that the joy and hope we have in Jesus is always reflected. Even our mourning must be tempered by this awareness of the new life that we have in Christ Jesus.

Lent, like Advent is a time of preparation for new life. At the end of Advent Jesus is born and we celebrate Christmas. At the end of Lent we are reborn in the image of Christ. That is the true victory of the resurrection. It is not just Jesus that rises from the dead, we too are raised imperishable alongside him. This transition from death to life is the work of a lifetime. Every Lenten season we are called to reflect as we move more deeply into hope and life. This lent let us prepare for life, let us prepare for hope, for this is our common heritage in Christ Jesus.

Pastor Jim Bliss
February 2007