Community Connection ~ March 2, 2025: The History of Lent

Today, we’d like to offer a special Community Connection tracing the history of Lent, connecting directly to the spiritual practices shared by Sue P. during today’s service.

The word Lent comes from “lencten” meaning lengthen or springtime, appropriate for this time when the days begin to get longer. This period of preparation for Easter has roots reaching back all the way to the early days of the church. In fact, it’s widely accepted that Lent emerged shortly after the Council of Nicaea in the year 325. This council of Bishops was convened in what is now Turkey to settle theological questions across all of Christendom. Among the issues settled during the council was the official date of Easter, which was permanently set on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox (also known as the “Paschal Full Moon”).

Just as the timing of Easter varied prior to the Council of Nicaea, the timing of Lent continued to vary for two centuries after it. In fact, it was not until the end of the 6th century that the “schedule” we are used to - beginning on a Wednesday 46 days before Easter, with the exclusion of Sundays so that the total length of observance is 40 days - was solidified. If 40 days of observance sounds familiar, that’s because that period of time appears many times in the Bible, including in the stories of Moses, Jonah, and Elijah. One of those appearances is in the story of Jesus’s time in the wilderness, when he spent 40 days fasting and praying to God, and that’s the scripture most closely associated with the Lenten observance.

In addition to matching the duration of Jesus’s time in the wilderness, Lent “borrows” fasting and prayer as two of its pillars of observance; the third is almsgiving. Fasting in particular is the centerpiece of many people’s preparation for Easter, which makes sense given that from the early days of Christianity, many Baptisms were performed on Easter, and candidates for Baptism would fast in preparation for the ritual. Eventually, even those who were not being baptized began to fast during Lent. The form of this fasting evolved over the centuries until the broader concept of personal sacrifice began to replace the literal practice of sacrificing food. But the idea of “reorient(ing)...to make space for the love of God” remains as vital as ever. In fact, there are many paths you can take on your path towards Easter - including those outlined by Sue during this morning’s service. We hope you will find the one that offers you the deepest sense of spiritual renewal and let it guide you along the way!