Nathan E. Lewis

The Christian calendar can be most helpful in sharpening our focus upon God and his work within us and in the world. During the 40 days of Lent Christians devote themselves to fasting and praying with an emphasis on repentance and renewed reliance upon God. (From Ash Wednesday to Easter is 46 days, but the six Sundays are not considered lenten days as each Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.) There is a popularly held view moving people to disregard Lent: “Why should I fast and pray for 40 days on the church calendar when I can fast and pray 365 days of the year? Why should I focus on repentance during Lent when I can repent 365 days of the year?” This particular view has the potential of encouraging a Christian lifestyle bereft of fasting, prayer, repentance, and reliance upon God. Sometimes 24-7 availability fails to capture our attention and sharpen our spiritual disciplines. What if Christmas lasted all year long? Is not Christmas special as it comes once a year?
Here is another expression of this popular sentiment about Lent and the church calendar: “With Jesus my one and only Mediator, I can come boldly to the throne of grace anytime I choose to do so.” And so, I wonder why there is not more of us spending more of our time before the throne of grace. Some Roman Catholics still make use of the confession booth on a weekly basis. Christians of the Reformation abolished the confession booth saying: “Jesus is our one and only Mediator and so we don’t have to confess our sins to the priest as if he can mediate between us and God.” This is all well and good as long as these Christians, free from the confession booth and its priest, confess their sins regularly and directly to God. The apostle James wrote, “Confess your sins to one another,” but most of us find this difficult to do. The anonymity of the confession booth promotes the confession of sins, but then there is the problem of the exclusive mediation of Christ. And so, most Christians of the Reformation and beyond don’t confess their sins much at all. Relatively few churches today include corporate confession of sins in their Sunday morning worship meetings, confining the confession of sins solely to the private, individual realm. An individual without a confession booth and weekly corporate confession of sin, rarely, if ever, hears a human voice speak on behalf of God, “Your sins are forgiven.”
I am looking for someone who can explain to me why a special 40 days on the church calendar to pray and fast, to repent of sins and rely upon God is counter-productive. If I can do it all 365 days of the year, what would prevent me from making it all the focus of 40 of those 365 days? In my childhood I heard much about “dead ritualism” and the dangers of “church tradition.” Has anyone ever heard about the dangers of having no plan, schedule, program, or method simply because we are free to choose more than one specific plan or method? There is no virtue is merely escaping “dead ritualism.” A virtuous person would replace “dead ritualism” with “vibrant following of Christ.” I don’t have a church tradition and so my private, individual Christian expression is somehow authentic. But you - you have a church tradition - and so your Christian expression is inauthentic. Go ahead, play your little Lent game for 40 days. I have the freedom to repent 365 days of the year, but I’ll let you in on a little secret: I’ve chosen not to repent for a very long time.

(Reported in The Oregonian, Saturday, March 7, 2009: “A 2008 survey by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University found that 75% of Catholics go to confession only once a year or never at all.”)

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