What is Lent and why do we do it?

One of my uncles wrote an email saying he was shocked that I am part of promoting a "non-biblical" idea like Lent.

Technically, my uncle is right. Lent is not a word or concept found in Scripture but the practices of Lent run throughout the Bible: renewal, repentance, return to the road to the cross and empty tomb of Christ, where we find our life.

I responded to my uncle by saying I remember good times in his home many years ago praying, singing, reading Scripture. I simply added that what we are doing with Lent is a lot like those times in my uncle's house. We are encouraging Wineskins readers to form habits of prayer year-round and Lent is a particular time that we reflect, repent, and renew as we focus on the way of the cross and discipleship in Christ.

As we did last year, we again offer a dialogue by the late Robert E. Webber that is meant for groups, particularly where children can ask the question and a reply can be given during a devotional time. Use the following that way or just to help you understand what Lent is and why many Christians practice it.

Lent: Inquiry and Instruction

By Robert E. Webber

Question: What is the meaning of the word Lent?

Answer: It has no religious meaning like Advent or Pentecost. It comes from an Anglo-Saxon word, Lencten, meaning "spring."

Question: Why do we observe Lent?

Answer: The purpose of Lent is to provide a time for us to enter into the suffering of Jesus and to go with Him to the tomb.

Question: How can we do this?

Answer: The experience of the people of God who have gone before us is that we best identify with Jesus by adopting a discipline of prayer, fasting, almsgiving.

Question: How should we pray?

Answer: Our prayer may be a spiritual meditation on Jesus Christ--His teaching, His suffering, His death on our behalf.

Question: Why should we fast?

Answer: Fasting is an aid to prayer. Years ago Augustine wrote, "When a man imposes on himself the burden of fasting, he shows that he really wants what he is asking for." Christians fast in order to pray more intently.

Question: What is the purpose of almsgiving?

Answer: We give alms to the poor and needy because it is a specific expression of the brotherly love produced by prayer. The closer we are to Jesus, the more we care for our neighbor.

Source: Robert Webber, The Family Book of Prayer (Hendrickson, 1996).