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After He was baptized in the Jordan river, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into desert. He spent forty austere days there, fasting and being tempted by the Devil. (Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13) After defying Satan, Jesus went out of the desert to begin his public ministry and begin walking the way to the cross. The idea of a forty-day fast resonates throughout the Bible. Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness, fasting and being tempted. Noah and his family were afloat in the ark for forty days before the waters of the great flood subsided. (Genesis 7:17) Moses fasted for forty days on Mount Sinai before coming down from the mountain with the ten commandments. (Exodus 34:28)
Lent is a time for the people of God to recall these Biblical fsats. We do this by focusing on repentance, penitence, spiritual discipline. It is a time to simplify, to focus on the things that distract us from our walk of faith, and to remember the source of our life and our faith. St. Athanasius described this process as "becoming by grace what God is by nature."
The season begins on Ash Wednesday and continues through Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. The Sundays in the Lent season are not part of the forty-day numbering. Christians celebrate every Sunday as a "mini Easter." So, while the Sundays within Lent still reflect the simplicity and austerity of the season, our primary duty in Sunday morning worship is always to remember and celebrate the Resurrection!
History
In the early church, people interested in becoming part of the church would be baptized on Easter. They spent the time before their baptism date for fasting and preparation for the special day. The time spent in preparation varied, but in AD 325, in the Canons of Nicaea, the Lenten fast for catechumens was formalized to forty days. This meant that the season had to start on Wednesday rather than the traditional Monday. Ash Wednesday became the first day of the new season for Western churches. Many Eastern churches still begin Lent on a Monday.
Colors
Purple is the color for Lent, and symbolizes somberness and solemnity. It is also the color of royalty, and anticipates the resurrection that will come through Jesus' suffering and death of Jesus.
Symbols
The cross is easily the most recognizable Christian symbol. In Lent, it takes on a special meaning, as we witness and experience the road that Jesus walked to the crucifixion. The Stations of the Cross is a way for Christians to follow the footsteps of Jesus on the way to the cross. In the 16th century, European villages created the first stations as a way of allowing those who could not journey to the Holy Land to literally walk in Jesus' footsteps to, instead, visit fourteen stations or shrines guiding them along the way of the cross.
Ashes remind us of our frailty and mortality. Genesis 3:19 says “For dust you are and to dust you will return.” God sculpted Adam out of the dust of the earth. Sin brought death into the world, and the decay of impermanence returns our bodies to the dust from which they were formed. On Ash Wednesday, we receive the sign of the cross in ashes on our foreheads, to remind us of our mortality and at the same time express our hope for eternal life through the Salvation Christ earned for us on the cross.
We refrain from using the word "Alleluia" in our worship services through the Lenten season. For example, instead of the alleluia verse, the standard Gospel acclamation, we use a special Lenten verse, "Return to the Lord, Your God." This burial gives the alleluia special meaning on Easter morning, when it is finally "resurrected" in our jubilant songs!
Sources
LCMS Church Year, ELCA Liturgical Planning and ChurchYear.net.
Image Credit
"Dead Tree" by Alexander Rist.
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