A Short Guide for Practicing Lent

Lent gets its essential ideas and duration from the witness of scripture. Within the Scriptures, journeys through the wilderness, fasting, repentance, and prayer are common themes. In the Old Testament, the best example is the wilderness wanderings of the people of Israel after they had been rescued from slavery in Egypt. God leads them through the wilderness, into a long season of pruning and preparation for all that lay ahead of them in the promised land. In the New Testament, Jesus enters a similar season of preparation and prayer before his public ministry. Only this time it is not 40 years it is forty days of hunger and spiritual confrontation with forces that sought to knock him off his path. 

Very early in the life of the church, within the first 300 years or so, Christians began to pick up on these biblical themes and weave them into the way that they practiced their discipleship to Jesus. First, as a 40-day period of preparation for new Christians as they readied themselves for baptism on Easter morning. The church quickly realized that this practice was richly rewarding for everybody. Prayer, repentance, and fasting before Easter became commonplace by the middle of the 4th century. 

And so, for most of the history of the Christian church, Lent has been seen as a symbolically rich and spiritually rewarding practice that readies our bodies, hearts, and minds for the power and mystery of Good Friday and Easter.

Traditionally, the observance of Lent involves spiritual practices like fasting, prayer, repentance, and almsgiving. But when many of us hear those it can be hard to figure out how to do those types of things for 40 days during Lent. So below we have put together a list of ideas, resources, and best practices to help you consider how you will keep the season of Lent this year.