Three years ago I ran the following post on an older version of this site.  The comment section became very interesting very quickly, though I have not transferred those comments from there to here.  Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, so I’ve decided to rerun it here.

Last Sunday I mentioned to Central Baptist Church that this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, marked the beginning of Lent.  I mentioned that we Baptists have traditionally observed portions of the Christian calendar while ignoring or rejecting other portions, but that there may be good reasons to observe some portions we have traditionally neglected.

Over the last couple of days, I’ve received comments ranging from appreciation, to curiosity, to questioning of Lent and my mentioning it from the pulpit.  So I thought I might just share a few thoughts on the question of whether or not Baptists should observe Lent.  In no particular order:

• The short answer:  “Yes” if you find it helpful.  “No” if you don’t.

• It is true that we do not find the observance of Lent in the New Testament, but neither do we find the observance of Christmas or one special annual day for Easter (every Sunday was an observance of Easter for the early believers!).

• Concern is occasionally raised because Lent seems to be a Catholic observance.  Sure enough, Catholics observe Lent, but so do and so have many Protestants, albeit moreso in the Magesterial Protestant tradition. (Catholics also, by the way, observe Easter and Christmas, days I’d like to keep around!)

• It is curious to me that Baptist Christians have more interest in the secular and political calendar than in the historic Christian calendar.  For instance, where in the New Testament do we see the early church observing something like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Veteran’s Day?

• Sure, the liturgical calendar presents us with very interesting symbols that we do not see specifically in the Bible.  Tomorrow many Christians will be marked on the forehead with ashes for Ash Wednesday.  But why, praytell, does this raise eyebrows (when, at least, it has some biblical founding – ashes as a sign of humility and repentance) when our wholesale embrace of clearly non-biblical (not un-biblical, just non-biblical) symbols does not?  I speak, for instance, of the following symbols we embrace:  the American flag, the Christian flag, the iconic symbol of the cross, the symbol of the fish.  Moreso, we embrace culturally-defined symbols all the time:  wedding bands, sports symbols, the favorite chants, cheers, dances, motions of our favorite teams, etc.

• View Lent as a running start to jump into Easter, if that helps.

• The greatest irony in all of this is the current fad of observing “40 Days of _____” (fill-in-the-blank: Purpose, Prayer, Stewardship, etc.) in Baptist churches.  I mean, if we can observe 40 Days of Purpose for Rick Warren why can’t we observe the season of Lent, which has a grander historical pedigree, is, I dare say, even more biblically robust (NO knock on Rick Warren intended!), and has been a useful tool for Christians all over the world through the ages?  I’ll wager my left leg that if LifeWay took Lent, renamed it, put in a package, called it “40 Days of Repentance and Reflection”, and created a Leader’s Guide and student workbook, Baptists would gobble it up in droves, wear the pre-printed t-shirts, armbands, headbands, etc.  Meaning, if we can observe 40 days of kitsch, we can certainly observe 40 days of Lent.

• NONE of this is to say you should or must observe Lent or you’re wrong if you don’t.  Again, if you find it helpful, do so.  If you don’t, don’t.  But it’s something to consider.

• Just thinking aloud…