How Lent Can Make a Difference
in Your Relationship with God

by Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts

Note: You may download this resource at no cost, for personal use or for use in a Christian ministry, as long as you are not publishing it for sale. All I ask is that you give credit where credit is due. For all other uses, please contact me at mark@markdroberts.com. Thank you.

How Lent Can Make a Difference in Your Relationship with God
Part 1 of series: How Lent Can Make a Difference in Your Relationship with God
Posted for Thursday, March 2, 2006
Newly edited version of previous post on Lent.

I have a blogging tradition for the day after Ash Wednesday, which is the second day of Lent (Ash Wednesday being the first). I put up a simple piece explaining the meaning and practices of Lent. This year's piece is similar to ones I've written before. If this is old hat for you, then come back tomorrow, because I'll be putting up a new reflection on the meaning of Lent.

I write about the meaning of Lent every year because this season of the church year is unfamiliar to many, including many Christians. But I write not only to explain, but also to invite you to experience God in a deeper and distinctive way. This, I believe, is one of the promises of Lent.

Growing up as an evangelical Christian, I experienced Lent as little more than a joke. "What are you giving up for Lent?" my friends would ask. "Homework," I'd say with a smirk, or "Obeying my parents." Lent was one of those peculiar practices demanded of Roman Catholics - another great reason to be Protestant, I figured. It never even occurred to me that Lent was something I might actually be interested in, or benefit from.

In the last fifteen years I've discovered that Lent is in fact recognized by millions of Protestant Christians, in addition to Catholic and Orthodox believers. (The Eastern Orthodox Lent is longer than the Catholic or Protestant Lent, and it begins before Ash Wednesday.) Lent (the word comes from the Middle English word for "spring") is a six-week season in the Christian year prior to Easter. (Technically, Lent comprises the 40 days before Easter, not counting the Sundays, or 46 days.)

Some segments of Protestantism did continue to recognize a season of preparation for Easter, however. Their emphasis was not so much on penitence and fasting as on intentional devotion to God. Protestant churches sometimes added special Lenten Bible studies or prayer meetings so that their members would be primed for a deeper experience of Good Friday and Easter. Lent was a season to do something extra for God, not to give something up.

After ignoring Lent for the majority of my life, I've paid more attention to it during the last decade. Sometimes I've given up something, like watching television or eating sweets, in order to devote more time to Bible study and prayer. (The television fast was especially tough because I love watching March Madness, the NCAA basketball tournament, on TV.) Sometimes I've added extra devotional reading to my regular spiritual disciplines. I can't claim to have had any mystical experiences during Lent, but I have found that fasting from something has helped me appreciate more deeply the meaning of the cross and the victory of the resurrection. Before I began honoring Lent, Good Friday and Easter always seemed to rush by before I could give them the attention they deserved. Now I find myself much more ready to meditate upon the depth of Christ's sacrifice and to celebrate his victory over sin and death on Easter. Lent is not a requirement for Christians. But millions of us - Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Independent - have found that recognizing the season of Lent enriches our worship and deepens our faith.
		A Lenten stole from a designer who has lots of creative liturgical materials for sale.

A Simple Lenten Discipline

Read one chapter of a gospel each day during Lent. Before you begin, ask the Lord to speak to you through his Word. Read slowly and prayerfully. Let the text sink into your mind and heart. When you've finished reading, pray about whatever has touched you. If you begin with the Gospel of Mark, you'll have enough time to read it and one other gospel during Lent.

Another Lenten Discipline I would also encourage you to read one of the Psalms each day, prayerfully and reflectively. Make this psalm a basis for your daily prayers. If you'd like some encouragement in this exercise, I'd recommend my devotional psalm website, The Daily Psalm. For the first part of Lent, the psalms will run in order, though I'll approach them with a Lenten mindset. During the last two weeks of Lent the psalms will be chosen for their Lenten themes. No matter how it happens, I pray that the next six weeks will be for you a time of preparation, so that you might be ready for a truer, deeper, and richer experience of God's love on Good Friday and Easter.

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Overview of the Christian Year
Part 2 of the series "How Lent Can Make a Difference"
Part 2 of the series “Advent and the Christian Year”
Posted at 10:00 p.m. on Monday, November 29, 2004

In this post I want to provide an overview of the liturgical year in case you are not familiar with it. Before I do this, however, I should say that there is not one, universally-recognized version of the Christian year. In fact you’ll find considerable variation in timing and practices, even within one denomination or tradition. All versions, to my knowledge, recognize Christmas and Easter as the twin hubs around which rotate the variety of feasts, fasts, and seasons of the year. But even the specific dates for Christmas and Easter vary among different Christian traditions. So, the Christian year I’m going to describe is a version of the Western tradition, which you’ll find in many Protestant denominations, as well as the Roman Catholic church. One other prefatory note. Part of what makes observing the liturgical year special is color. Different events and seasons are reflected in a variety of colors, including purple, white, green, black, red, pink, blue, gold, and some other colors as well. The seasonal color, usually displayed in various ways in the place of worship, reflects and augments the thematic elements of the season. So, for example, purple is understood to symbolize penitence (among other things), so it is used during the season of Lent. Once again I should emphasize that there is no single color scheme either recognized by or imposed upon all Christians. (In the twelfth-century Pope Innocent II systematized the Roman Catholic color scheme, but since Vatican II in the 1960s Roman Catholic churches have exercised considerable freedom in their use of alternative or additional colors.) The following chart summarizes the Christian year, with calendar dates, themes, and major colors:			The Eastern Orthodox Alternative In response to my last post, two of my readers sent e-mails filling me in on a dimension of the Christian year that I had overlooked: the Eastern Orthodox Liturgical Year. I had known that Eastern Christians celebrate Easter on a different date from their Western siblings, but I was unaware that their liturgical calendar is substantially different and more complex than the Western calendar. (I found a helpful webpage that provides a visually-striking overview of the Orthodox liturgical year.) The Orthodox year begins in September and includes several feasts and fasts that are not part of the Western Christian year. Advent, for Orthodox Christians, begins on November 15 and is a season of serious fasting in preparation for the 12-day season of Christmas. One of those who wrote me explained how all of this is not just a matter of outward religiosity, but inward spirituality as well. “I now pay far greater attention to the liturgical year, “ she wrote, “and attempt to order my life around it, and it has made a difference in my spiritual life.” I have several friends who began worshipping in an Orthodox church, in part because they experienced a deeper relationship with God through the liturgical richness of the Orthodox church. (Thanks to A.G. and N.W. for your helpful notes!)
			Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, blessing a congregation in his home city of Istanbul.

I've not included many minor holy days, such as Ascension Sunday, Reformation Sunday, All Saints Day, etc. Some Christians recognize these days; some do not. Moreover, there is considerable variation on many of the details. My chart represents one approach among many.

In my next post I'll say more about how the liturgical year and the colors associated with the seasons can enrich our corporate worship and our personal spirituality. If you think all of this stuff is relevant only to highly liturgical churches, think again!

I've not included many minor holy days, such as Ascension Sunday, Reformation Sunday, All Saints Day, etc. Some Christians recognize these days; some do not. Moreover, there is considerable variation on many of the details. My chart represents one approach among many. In my next post I'll say more about how the liturgical year and the colors associated with the seasons can enrich our corporate worship and our personal spirituality. If you think all of this stuff is relevant only to highly liturgical churches, think again!

If you'd like a large JPEG of the chart above, click on the chart to the left and download the picture from the next page.

The Colors of the Christian Year
Part 3 of the series "How Lent Can Make a Difference"
Part 3 of the series “Advent and the Christian Year”
Posted at 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 2, 2004

In my last post of this series I gave an overview of the Christian year, including a chart that listed key themes and colors. In Part 3 I want to talk a bit more about liturgical colors and their meaning.

The use of color and visual art in worship is nothing new. For centuries the Roman Catholic church incorporated elaborate artistic works in her sanctuaries. But, with the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, and especially in the Reformed branch of the Reformation, the perceived excesses of Catholic art in worship led to the virtual excommunication of visual art from worship. Visual symbolism in Reformed churches was minimal (cross, pulpit, baptismal font) and modest. This artistic minimalism continued to be the dominant force in most evangelical churches in the United States, though some mainline Protestant churches developed visual traditions along the familiar lines of the Roman Catholic tradition.

In the last decade, however, many churches throughout the Western world have “discovered” the power of the visual in worship. Owing partly to the pervasive influence of visual imagery in our culture, partly to the cross-pollination between different streams of Christian tradition, and partly to the power of digital projection, churches that would never have considered the use of visual art in worship have not only begun to use it, but even to major in it. Many large evangelical and charismatic churches, the kind that only twenty years ago would have incorporated only words and music in worship, have even hired staff whose primary responsibility is to provide stunning visuals for liturgical purposes (though they would avoid the word “liturgical” in favor of something like “celebrative” or "worshipful").

I believe that, for the most part, the rediscovery of visual art in worship is a positive development. (For my hesitations about this, see my series, “Visual Arts in Faith and Worship.”) Yet some churches have set off on the journey of liturgical art as if they were groundbreaking pioneers, rather than pilgrims traveling along a well-worn path. These churches might do well to look into the use (and occasional misuse) of visual art in Christian history. We all have much to learn from the centuries of Christian worship that precede us. Or, to use a different metaphor, we who are beginning to utilize the visual in worship might just find in Christian tradition a treasure trove with gems just waiting to be used afresh.

In my opinion, the colors of the Christian year are part of this treasure trove. The intentional use of colors and color changes in worship spaces can enliven and deeper our worship, as well as add to the beauty of the experience. Colors can symbolize truth. Colors can delight the eyes. Colors can move the heart. And so much more.

Let me give just one example among many from my worship in my own church. One of the most striking aspects of our worship space is the cross at the front of our sanctuary. Its simplicity and power conveys symbolically and emotionally the truth of the gospel. Along with the members of my congregation, I have meditated upon this cross many times, remembering what Jesus did for me. It has impacted both the depth and the passion of my worship. Our cross stands alone, not as a decoration, but as a simple image of salvation. We never hang anything from the cross, except for one day of the year: Good Friday. Early in the morning of Good Friday, somebody drapes a basic black cloth over the horizontal bar of the cross. I know in advance that this will be there. I’m not surprised to see it. Yet, every year when I enter our sanctuary on Good Friday and see the black drape, my heart is struck. For some reason that black cloth hanging on the cross brings home to me the horror and the wonder of Jesus’s death. I often find myself brought to tears by that compelling yet basic symbol.
		The cross at the front of the sanctuary of Irvine Presbyterian Church

This is just one example among many possibilities from my personal experience. It illustrates, I think, the potential power of color to motivate and shape our worship.

I know that some of you will relate immediately to what I’m saying because your experience is similar. Others of you will understand what I’m describing, but it isn’t something you yourself know in a personal way. If you’re wondering how colors might be incorporated into your corporate worship – or your private devotions – let me close by putting up a number of representative pictures. Some of these come from highly liturgical churches and may not make much sense in a band-led service meeting in school gymnasium. But, then again, who knows? The creative use of color in such a space might transform an ordinary room into a genuine sanctuary. At any rate, these pictures might inspire you to be creative in your own worship settings. The possibilities for the use of color in worship are truly limitless.

		All of these photographs are of the communion table from the First Lutheran Church of Palo Alto, California. Here you can see one way that a church uses color to enhance worship in a particular time of the Christian year. The upper left image is from Advent; the upper right image from Christmas. The middle left picture is of Ordinary time; the middle right from Lent. The lower left image is from Easter and the lower right from Pentecost Sunday. For the significance of the colors, see my last post.

If your church does not have a communion table at the front, there are many other options for colorful art. Here are two banners that have been displayed in churches. The one on the left is an Advent banner, using the colors of this season (purple, violet, and pink). This banner is the creation of Jean Cross, a Christian artist who has made her work available to many churches. See her website. The banner on the right is an Easter banner. It employs the dominant Easter colors, white, gold, and yellow, and also the celebrative shape of the Easter lily.

The last two images are both advent images. One the left a royal blue draping of material fills the worship space. One the right, the traditional purple candles of the Advent wreath glow tellingly.

The Christian Year and the Textures of Worship
Part 4 of the series "How Lent Can Make a Difference"
Part 4 of the series “Advent and the Christian Year”
Posted at 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 5, 2004

In Part 3 of this series I explored the ways that liturgical colors can enrich our worship. In this post I want to pursue a bit further how the Christian year can enhance our worship and therefore our relationship with God.

As Christians we worship in light of the gospel. Our worship is a response to the God who has reached out to us in Jesus Christ, saving us from sin, death, isolation, and meaninglessness. Thus Christian worship is consistently infused with joy and gratitude. Moreover, since we worship the King of king and Lord of lords, we approach God humbly as well as boldly. And because God is glorious and majestic, our worship is filled with praise. At the core and in many of the details, Christian worship from day to day, from week to week, and from year to year, is essentially the same.

But this is not to say that our worship should be monotonous. In a given worship service we might focus on one particular aspect of God’s nature and therefore utilize distinctive expressions. For example, we might focus on the holiness of God, praising God’s perfection, thanking him for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and asking God to finish in us his work of sanctification (making us holy). Another week we might emphasize God’s grace, praising him for his forgiveness and seeking help to be gracious with one another. And so forth and so on. When our worship responds to the multifaceted character of God, and especially when it is shaped by the diversity of biblical revelation, it will have different textures and colors, even though the basic fabric is consistent from week to week.

The liturgical year contributes to the variety of our worship. Therefore it helps us to have a broader, deeper, and more vital relationship with God. It keeps us from the possibility of our worship becoming so routine that we cease to wonder at the grandeur of God. To put it bluntly, the variations of the Christian year help us not to become bored in worship.

Bored in worship? Is it possible? Logically speaking, this seems utterly impossible. If we remember that we worship the awesome Creator of the Universe, it’s hard to factor boredom into the worship equation. But sometimes, no matter how wonderful God is, and no matter how truthful our worship might be, if our expressions of worshi