As we stand at the beginning of the season of Lent, I have a couple thoughts:

• Lent is important;

• But, Lent has a long history of being far too saturnine to be as helpful as it should be;

• We are save by God’s GRACE, through FAITH in Jesus…not by how hard we beat ourselves up;

• Lent should be tinged with the same JOY that we have in Advent; and

• Lent prepares us for EASTER.

Lent has a very long history—dating back to at least 325ad, and the First Council of Nicaea. However, the formal canonization of Lent was preceded by local practices which varied from 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and the full 6 weeks we currently observe. There’s nothing magic about that timeframe—it was derived from the frequent use of 40 days (or years) which mark so many Biblical events.

Historically, Lent has often taken on a sort of works righteousness mindset, reflecting a “pray harder,” “repent harder,” quality; and that attitude changes Lent into something else. It turns Lent away from Christ’s love/work on our behalf, and transforms it into a kind of self-flagellation to earn God’s favor. And that’s not Lutheran, or, in fact, even Christian (see Eph 2, and Ro 4). We aren’t saved by our own mea culpa’s, we’re saved by God’s grace—a gift he FREELY gives us through faith in Jesus.

All through the pages of the Bible, from Gen 4 to Rev 22, human beings have routinely tried to make salvation about what we do to earn God’s forgiveness. That lets us be proud of ourselves—even if we’re proud of how well we “repent.” That’s the mindset that pervaded the Medieval church and led to Martin Luther’s protest against indulgences and relics. It is inimical to the Gospel. The calls to repent (μετάνοια) which run throughout the New Testament, are calls to “change your mind.” The change the prophets and apostles are calling for are a rejection of self-reliance and a turn to actual trust in God, a belief in his unconditional promise to deliver us from our sins.

That brings me to JOY. Joy is different from happiness. It’s a deeper thing. One can have joy even in the midst of trouble or turmoil. It’s awfully hard to be happy in such times. And that’s why I believe we need to focus on the deeper joy of Lent, because we KNOW that Easter is just around the corner. Joy says: “Jesus was betrayed,” “Jesus was beaten,” “Jesus died,” BUT on Easter he arose from the dead and conquered Sin, Death, and the Devil—not just for himself, but for us all!

Our repentance and self mortification don’t do anything to save us—only Jesus’ death and resurrection do that. We need to keep our eyes on THAT. And while we must not forget what he did, we need to remember WHY he did it—because he loves us more than we can ever understand. That gives us Joy and Peace.

May you have a Blessed Lent…filled with Joy!

Pastor Derek

1Gloomy, moody, somber, dark, melancholy, taciturn, dour, glum…you get the point.