Evangelicals and the Liturgical Calendar

It’s become more popular for evangelicals to pay attention to the liturgical calendar. For many, Ash Wednesday and Lent have become a significant prelude to Holy Week and the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday.

I don’t know any evangelical Protestants who observe certain days on the church calendar as a shift to a works-based salvation. Instead, this observance signals a kind of catholicity that emphasizes the real connection with local churches in the present and with the invisible, universal Church across time and place. But, of course, no one is obligated to observe Ash Wednesday or Lent any more than they are obligated to recognize other days or seasons on the liturgical calendar, like Good Friday, Easter, or Christmas. Those who observe the liturgical calendar do so in honor of the Lord, and those who abstain do so in honor of the Lord (Rom 14:5-9).  

We plan to hold our first Ash Wednesday service at Resurrection Church to draw our attention to the gospel’s call to repentance and renewal. In keeping with the Church’s tradition, at this service, we will impose ashes with the sign of the cross as part of the service, along with reflection on the gospel, Scripture readings, confession of sin, and assurance of pardon.

Christians have always thought it essential to bring together external embodied action (e.g., bowing heads and closing eyes) with spiritual acts (e.g., praying). In this way, the division between secular and sacred, physical and spiritual, is broken down, providing a unified and holistic expression of worship. This approach is grounded not only in the realities of creation but also in the provision of the sacraments (or ordinances) of baptism and the Lord’s Supper that do the same in a special way.

Some of these practices are foreign to many evangelicals. However, these practices draw on the symbolic gestures of earlier Christians and, more specifically, of God’s people in the Old Testament. Throughout the Bible, seasons or penitence were accompanied by sackcloth (basic, plain clothing), ashes (typically sprinkled on the head or whole body), and fasting (see especially Daniel 9:3-5). Ash Wednesday and Lent draw on these gestures that accompany repentance. At our Ash Wednesday service, you will see a lot of gray and black (and some dull purple), along with the imposition of ashes in this service that begins the Lenten season of fasting and renewal.

I’d like to offer three reflections and a concluding instruction to help prepare for Ash Wednesday and Lent.

First, Ash Wednesday and Lent observance do not earn God’s favor. Instead, they are spiritual disciplines that assist in spiritual formation. Evangelicals rightly resist any notion that we can earn God’s favor. Although some may approach spiritual disciplines this way, those who do misunderstand the spiritual disciplines. The spiritual disciplines do not function as a way to earn God’s favor; instead, participation in them is a response to God’s favor already offered in Christ. Participation in the spiritual disciplines is part of the new life based on what God has done in Christ.

The spiritual disciplines are gifts that assist in the formation of Christ in us. Some spiritual disciplines are explicitly commanded or simply assumed in the Bible. For example, Jesus assumes that his followers will fast (“When you fast…”; Matthew 6:16). In contrast, over time, Christians have recognized other spiritual disciplines (e.g., journaling, the liturgical calendar) as helpful for spiritual formation.

Ash Wednesday and Lent are formal moments when Christians throughout the centuries have determined to pursue the spiritual disciplines of fasting and prayer, providing a community context for spiritual formation. The liturgical calendar offers a rhythm of feasting and fasting that operates like a systolic-diastolic system that keeps us spiritually healthy. Lent is like a diastolic season of repentance, recharging, and renewal that prepares our hearts for the systolic celebration of Resurrection Sunday.  

Second, Ash Wednesday reminds us both of our mortality and gospel hope. Typically, during the imposition of ashes, the recipient will hear these words: “Remember that from dust you came, and to dust you shall return.” These words recall God’s words of judgment to Adam following his rebellion in the garden (Gen 3:19). These sobering words remind us of our mortality and our need to be reconciled to God, just as Adam needed reconciliation following his great betrayal. In the near context of these words of judgment are words of hope regarding the seed of the woman (Gen 3:15), tying together the need for repentance with the hope of reconciliation.  

Following Jesus’ forty-day fast in the wilderness, like Adam and Eve, he was tempted by the devil. But unlike the first couple, Jesus did not yield to that temptation. Jesus, the new and better Adam, prevailed (Rom 5:12-21). Through his righteous life and sacrificial death, he made a way for humanity to be reconciled to God. It is still true that we will face death, but for those who are in Christ Jesus, death has been defeated. We will return to dust, but on the final day, Jesus will raise all those who have been reconciled to God to new life.

Third, fasting during Lent is about adopting a simple posture to aid repentance and clear space for renewal. During Lent, Christians typically fast from things more fitting for a feasting lifestyle. Many people commit to simple meals (or, traditionally, one meal daily), no alcohol, etc. Beyond food limitations, others commit to refraining from watching television, utilizing social media, etc. The main point of the Lenten fast is to adopt a sober-minded manner of life that fits with a heart that pursues repentance and reflects on Jesus’ suffering.

The forty-day Lenten fast is modeled on Jesus’ own fasting in the wilderness (Mark 4:1-11), allowing Christians to imitate their Lord. What is more, in these moments, Christians become like the disciples of John who fasted, anticipating Easter Sunday when they will become like the disciples of Jesus who feasted with the bridegroom (Lk 5:33-39).

Ash Wednesday, Lent, and the Resurrection

Ash Wednesday and Lent commend a somber, reflective disposition. Yet, that is not the end of the story. Early in Church history, Christians used these forty days for the discipleship of catechumens waiting to be baptized on Easter Sunday. Those who had been removed from the church through discipline but had repented would also be formally restored to the church at this time.

Significantly, the word lent is derived from words that mean spring (English lente; German Lenzing). The timing of Lent, associated not only with Easter Sunday but also with the fading of winter and the inbreaking of spring, connects this season to resurrection hope and the renewal that comes with repentance. Lent is not just about somber reflection but also about renewal and resurrection! As we approach Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent, we should remember what comes next: our celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our greatest hope in life and death (1 Cor 15:12-28).