What is Lent?

A few words on the meaning of Lent taken from anglicancompass.com and Anglican Archbishop Fred Hiltz.

"Beginning on Ash Wednesday and lasting for 40 days, Lent is a season of fasting and penitence in preparation for Easter.  The Church year revolves around two 'cycles,' one for Christmas and one for Easter.  The Christmas cycle begins with a season of preparation: Advent.  The Easter cycle also begins with a season of preparation: Lent.  Because Lent lasts for forty days it recalls Christ's fasting during his temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4 1:11).  The current format for Lent, where it starts on Ash Wednesday and goes until Easter Sunday, for a total of 40 days (not counting Sundays).  Sundays are feast days and cannot be fast days.

It is for this reason that Sundays are labelled as 'Sundays in Lent' rather than 'Sundays of Lent.'  We won't eat cake every day of the week before our birthday.  This is not because eating some cake is wrong, but because we want to celebrate with enjoyment and appreciation.  Our fast reminds us what hunger and need feel like, so that when we feast we will know that it is God who fills us up.  Part of that preparation are the Sunday feasts.  The Sunday feasts in Lent are mini-Easters, celebrations of Christ's resurrection on the Lord's Day, so they are times to celebrate, to enjoy life, food, and fellowship.  They are not moments of guilty indulgence, instead they are a glimpse into the future life we are assured of in Christ.  We need those weekly reminders of the future feast, even in the midst of our fast time.

Week by week in our worship, we are reminded of the Great Commandments to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength; and to love our neighbours as ourselves.

Lent is really a season of the heart.  One in which we are called to ponder afresh the heart of God for the world and our heart for living what we pray, 'Your kingdom come, your will be done'.  Lent is a season for cleansing of the heart, that we 'do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God' (Micah 6:8).  This is your work and mind in Lent.  It is indeed the work of all those baptized in Christ."