Lent: What are you Giving Up or Taking Up?

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday - February 17th, 2021

If you’ve ever wondered what Lent is really all about, then here are some clues.

If you’ve ever wondered what Lent is really all about, then here are some clues.

Are you giving up chocolate? Alcohol? Thinking of becoming vegan? Cutting back on TV or browsing online? There are many traditions of fasting in the Christian churches. Traditionally we give up something as a way of paring back on excesses and reminding ourselves of the importance of our spiritual life. But as importantly, Lent needn’t be just about sacrificing a comfort or behaviour to make room for prayer and contemplation. It can be a call to action.

Recently, given all that is happening in our world, we might also want to ask what we are taking up – doing something positive to care for the environment – looking in on neighbours – volunteering or changing unhealthy habits.

Lent is an especially important season for Christians. The name comes from the old English name for Spring, so it is a hopeful time. It is forty days long – stretching from Ash Wednesday through to sunset on the Thursday before Easter Sunday.

Forty days is a number of deep significance to Christians and in scripture. The forty days reflect the days which Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted. It also reminds us of the forty days and nights Moses spent on Mount Sinai in communication with God, and the forty years the Hebrews spent in the wilderness between being liberated from slavery and entering the Promised Land.

Forty is a number for new birth. A human pregnancy lasts thirty-nine weeks so the forty means that a new life has begun. So Lent is really a season of preparation for the new birth of Easter. In fact, Lent began as a season to prepare new Christians for baptism on Easter Sunday.

Lent can be widely misunderstood, often wrongly considered a season of ascetic deprivation when its true significance can be felt in the gifts we receive when we temporarily forego a comfort or habit in return for a deeper communion with God in anticipation of Christ’s resurrection at Easter. 

Share your Lent stories with us at Union Chapel on our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram so that we come out of Covid and this dark time together steeped in the joy of resurrection.