Penitential Rhythm of the Season
Last week we began our pre-Lent season with Septuagesima and this week we will celebrate Sexagesima. Maybe you do not know this but the modern prayerbooks do not have the Gesima's leading up to Lent. In my estimation, this is a grave tragedy. What I have witnessed in those circles is that Lent appears out of nowhere and it takes people about two to three weeks to get into the penitential rhythm of the season. Unfortunately, by that time Lent is half over. If only we had three weeks beforehand to help us prepare, oh wait, we do! Welcome to the Gesima season. The Gesima Sundays help us count 70 days (Septuagesima), 60 days (Sexagesima), and 50 days (Quinquagesima) from Easter. However, the days are more approximations because there are not 10 days between Sundays. They serve as a way to help us prepare for our journey towards Holy Week and Pentecost. In our Lenten study this year, we will look at where Lent comes from, its importance leading up to Palm Sunday and Holy Week, and finishing with Pentecost. These are not isolated events, rather, they invite us to join ourselves to the saving work of Christ.
Oftentimes, we approach Lent with a Pelagian mindset where we have to mortify our flesh so that we can earn salvation. The end is mistaken from the beginning. We do not enter into Lent because we need a season in the Church Year to beat ourselves up. We enter into Lent to journey towards Easter. Easter is the proper culmination of Lent. This time of preparation has historically taken on several meanings depending on whether you are baptized or preparing for baptism. If the latter, Lent is a time of preparation for the Catechumens leading up to their baptism. If already a Christian, it presents a time for Christians to carry out their penance imposed upon them by their bishop--usually from the preceding year because the penance was quite long-- so that they can receive the Eucharist on Easter. This later practice is expressed in the 1662 BCP's Commination Service at Ash Wednesday where people had to stand outside in front of the church and the bishop, be convicted of their sins, given penance, and reminded of God's curse upon impenitent sinners. The bishop concluded "not to despair of the Lord's mercy but to devote themselves to fasting, to prayers, to pilgrimages, to almsgiving..." etc. Immediately following this, the bishop would enter the church, close the doors behind him, and begin mass. The image enacted was the expulsion from Paradise and the journey towards reconciliation with God. Drama!
I think we can all be thankful that this public penance was never part of the American BCP. On the other hand, it would present solidarity in the reality that the Christian life is a life of repentance and clinging to the hope we have in Christ. It certainly would give another layer of depth to the imposition of ashes and the joy of Easter Day.
Where is this in Scripture? Both nowhere and everywhere. Scripture does not give us the rituals and rites that play a powerful role within Lent, Holy Week, and Easter. However, the themes presented are deeply scriptural. The Traditions of the Church offer the truth of the Gospel and the Christian life. The liturgy, the Great Tradition, and the Anglican tradition provide an environment of catechesis, of learning, whereby we are taught deeply scriptural truths. They teach us not just in the words but with our whole body. We do not come to Church to simply listen, we come to experience and participate in a way that engages all our senses. For every part of us, every physical sense is confronted with the Gospel proclaimed in the liturgy. This is why in the Bible worship is described as having the Word proclaimed, there are images, smells, singing, eating, and processions. The normative principle regarding Scripture and worship reminds us that the liturgy is not just for our minds but our bodies too.
In the Anglican tradition, we are given a rich feast to participate in. Archbishop Michael Ramsey once said, "We are apt to think that tradition is inevitably a thing which enslaves and holds in bondage. In truth, tradition can be a gloriously liberating thing for us. It frees us from the dominance of some passing fad or fashion or enthusiasm; it liberates us into a larger realm wherein we are free from the tyranny both of today and yesterday." The traditions of the Church, especially during this time of the Church year, faithfully call us to live out Scripture and scriptural themes and virtues in our own lives, not as a silly dramatization but as an actualization. In his book The Paschal Mystery, Louis Bouyer says that Pasch (the passage or journey to Easter) "is not mere commemoration: it is the cross and the empty tomb rendered actual. But it is no longer the Head who must stretch himself on the cross in order to rise from the tomb: it is his Body the Church, and of this Body we are members."
I invite you, this Lent, to participate in the journey to Easter in ways that prepare your body and soul and form you to Christ. Seek to embody the scriptural movement from death to life in the liturgy. If you want to know more about what that looks like and continue conversations like this "Pondering", join us for our Lenten study.
Bon Voyage,
Fr. Aaron