Lent for Protestants 101

“What are you giving up for Lent?” may be asked of you tomorrow, Ash Wednesday. If you’re not a practicing Roman Catholic, you may think the question irrelevant; or you mightn’t have a clue what the questioner is asking. Lent? Ash Wednesday?

If the terms are familiar to you, but your answer might be, “I’m not a Catholic,” read on; this post is for you.

As it turns out, observance of Lent is for all Believers, not just Roman Catholics. The Roman Catholic Church began in the Fifth Century after the fall of Rome. Yet early-church fathers wrote of Lent observances in the Second Century; hence, the observance of Lent pre-dates the Catholic Church by, at least, three centuries.

The purpose of Lent is to prepare one’s heart for the Easter celebration. It’s a time of spiritual self-evaluation and repentance. The “giving up” part of the season is a demonstration of self-denial in preparation for Easter.

Since Lent is one of the oldest observances in the Christian Church, Believers of all denominations might want to know something about it. As with all holidays on the Christian calendar, the specific practices have changed over the years. (You may be more familiar with changes seen in Christmas and Easter celebrations, which aren’t mentioned in the Bible either; but they have been celebrated in a variety of ways over the centuries.)

The first Lenten observances began on the fortieth Sunday, allowing only one meal in the evening, excluding meat, fish, or animal products. Lent lasted only two or three days.

By 325 AD, the time had been expanded to forty days. Some scholars believe that this longer period had been intended only for the new believers preparing for baptism, but soon it included the entire church.

The details of those forty days of fasting varied with location. Some parts of the region fasted only on weekdays; others included Saturdays, but lasted one less week.

In the late-Sixth Century, the beginning of the Lenten season moved to a Wednesday, in order to have the Easter Sunday fall precisely after the forty days of fasting. (If you’re counting to verify the days, skip Sundays, which were feasting, not fasting days.)

This particular day became known as Ash Wednesday, because the introduction of ashes on the Believer’s forehead began with this change of the starting day. The ashes symbolized both the sign of repentance found in the Bible passages, repenting in sack cloth and ashes; as well as the passage in Genesis Chapter Three reminding us of our mortality—dust you are, to dust you’ll return.

A couple of centuries later, history records Lenten observance allowed the one meal to be eaten anytime after three o’clock. By 1400, the meal could be eaten at noon, and a bit later it could also include fish.

In 1966, the Roman Catholic Church limited the obligatory fasting days to Ash Wednesday and Good Friday for their congregations. Believers in other denominations continue to strictly observe the longer fasting period.

Today, many of the Protestant denominations hold services on Ash Wednesday; most apply the ashes to the forehead as did our brothers and sisters centuries ago.

Though forty days of fasting is rarely practiced as in the beginning of Lenten observance, the symbol of abstinence remains. Some of the protestant denominations now encourage their congregation to participate in the self-denial practice, giving up something commonly a part of the routine.

This may be to provide a bit more time for prayer or bible reading, but the expressed denial also serves to remind us that all sins brought to the cross of Jesus are forgiven because of His sacrifice. Easter is a great time of celebrating our freedom through Christ’s forgiveness.

My senior year in high school, Ash Wednesday fell before Valentine’s Day. Since my self-denial partner and I had already committed to giving up candy before we knew that sad fact, we simply froze every bit of candy we received or bought from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. No one told us Sundays were feasting days. What a stash our freezers held!

Take care when choosing what you might want to give up for Lent this year. If you give up coffee, and it’s a major part of your social interactions, you may be setting yourself up for failure. One of my closest friends from the Assemblies of God Church found this to be true, so I’m thinking giving up coffee won’t be a part of her second year’s self-denial plan.

We spend a lot of time preparing for the Christmas holiday—shopping, baking, and parties until one longs for Christmas to put an end to the search for white elephant gifts; but Christmas marks only the beginning of God’s plan.

Easter’s the reason for Christmas. Realizing I didn’t think much about Easter until Palm Sunday, I took a second look at Lent. I did want to prepare my heart for the celebration of Christ’s resurrection.

Since I already limited my consumption of processed sugars to Sunday’s, abstaining from sweet treats as a reminder of the approach of Resurrection Sunday didn’t mark any interruption in my routine. I needed something that would make me stop and remember. Then it came to me.

What better way to remember the Lenten observance than to get up fifteen minutes earlier each day to read about Jesus’ life leading up to Resurrection Sunday. I’ve read the Gospel accounts many times, so just adding it to my routine Bible reading for the day isn’t enough to remind me; getting up earlier with the express purpose of reading about Jesus will.

Have you considered giving up anything for Lent this year? Let me know, and I’ll pray for you to receive a fresh revelation of the Lord’s love for you, and what Jesus has done for you as a result of making that choice this year.