With so many new members joining our Church this past year, I am often answering questions about our Anglican form of worship. If you’re new to the liturgical calendar, the season of Lent can seem downright odd. Black smudges, fasting, washing feet, palm branches, and deep prayers of sorrow. What does all of it mean?
I have long believed that Lent is like a hard piece of candy. The outside shell is brittle and uncomfortable when first in your mouth, but once it sits and dissolves past the first layers, you soon discover the incredible sweetness beneath the surface.
The season of Lent is profoundly Biblical because it’s rooted in our need to constantly remind ourselves to come back to God. The Biblical word for this is repentance. As one of our prayers so aptly says, “We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.” Repentance is the hardness, and God’s restoration of us is the sweetness.
Lent is a deeply meaningful time as individuals and as a Church. Forty days of ancient practices help us reorder our lives while looking forward to new beginnings … and so it will be with you.
Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness leads you to repentance? – Romans 2:4
