It appears that the cumulative evidence from society and the churches is that the theme and practice of Lent have not been lost in the modern era, but that they have been secularised.

Thus what has happened to Christmas and Easter has happened to Lent. This is not surprising but it is worth pondering for a while, because many church members - perhaps unwittingly -- have assisted and continue to assist this process of secularisation whether it be of Christmas, Easter or Lent.

We recall that in medieval Christendom, the keeping of Lent was enforced by law and so this season of the year with its abstinence and fasting became deeply ingrained in western consciousness and memory. The arrival of Protestant and reformed Catholic national Churches in Europe in the sixteenth century modified but did not change this tradition. This retention with modification is easily seen by examining The Book of Common Prayer (1549, 1552, & 1662) where the spiritual dimension of the meaning of Lent is emphasized but the outward aspects are not neglected.

Thus Lent as a period of Forty Days plus the Sundays remained for Catholic and Protestant part of the Church Year and was also something that was part of general western "Christian" culture.

Within the churches, the keeping of a true Lent (outward abstinence and inward fasting [sorrow for sins] in union with the Lord Jesus who fasted 40 days and nights) has always been difficult. So for many it has been that to which to aspire rather than that which was attainable or easily accomplished. Regrettably those who make a real effort to keep a true Lent in the new millennium appear to be a minority of church members (and here perhaps there is a real difference between our generation and earlier ones).

At the same time, there are many inside and outside the churches who are committed to a secularised Lent and embrace Lent as a good thing. They appreciate also the changes in liturgy and ceremonial inside churches. The secularised Lent takes a variety of forms often assisted by the media and advertisements.

It may be the theme of fasting in terms of cutting down in the intake of food, useful because of its value in terms of weight-loss and lowering bad cholesterol levels. Again it may be the theme of abstinence so as to gain greater self-control over oneself and thus build up self-respect and esteem. Or it may be the theme of identification with the poor and hungry and the saving money by missing meals in order to give alms. And it may even be to increase one's savings - some banks are encouraging people to give up things for Lent, to conserve money and to put it into their bank accounts so that they can make progress in paying off debt.

In England the mid-Sunday of Lent, when traditionally extra relief from fasting was encouraged, there is a most obvious secularisation of the name and meaning of the day. From Mothering Sunday (you cannot have God as your Father unless the Church of God is your Mother - see the Epistle for the day Galatians 4:26) the nation has gone to Mothers' Day, a celebration of human motherhood with no reference either to the Blessed Virgin Mary or to the Church as Mother of the faithful, who are in Christ her Son.

The point about these secular ways of keeping Lent or a Sunday in Lent is not that they are bad things for they may be most useful and helpful things. It is that some of them should be the results of keeping a true Lent, not the purpose of Lent. They should be by-products of right living before God. They are all ways of avoiding the first commandment to Love God with heart, soul, mind and strength.

Let us remind ourselves as to what Lent means.

Christians are to fast in order to identify with the Lord Jesus and to please him. Fasting is not an outward abstinence of this or that merely for humanitarian reasons, but is to assist in control over the body so that there can also be an inward sorrow for sin and repentance unto God for sin. While fasting for 40 days, the believer looks up the Lord Jesus on his throne of grace for inspiration and looks forward in faith, hope and love to the atoning, sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus commemorated on Good Friday and to his glorious resurrection from the dead, commemorated on Easter Sunday.

The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon Lent 2002