Lent & Easter – What does it mean for me?
By Rev. Scot Sorensen
I share with you today my reflections upon the meaning and significance of Lent and Easter for me. I do not intend this reflection to be universal for all Lutherans, let alone all Christians. But, this is a bit how these seasons have shaped my life over the past six decades.
As a child who grew up in a home where weekly worship attendance was routine, the Lenten season which begins with Ash Wednesday, marked the only time of the year when we went to church twice a week, both Sunday and Wednesday. Other changes included a more somber tone of music (no Alleluias were sung) and the penitential color of purple was predominate.
As I grew as adult, and as a pastor now planning and leading these Lenten worship services, the season has become a time of intensifying my spiritual disciplines and paying even greater attention to my relationship with God. Spiritual disciplines such as fasting, prayer, study, and service find greater focus in this six-week period of Lent.
Lent concludes with Holy Week, the Triduum and Easter. Let me unpack those very Christian liturgical words. Holy Week is the last week of Lent and begins with Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion. The same Sunday, one week before Easter has a split personality. Palm Sunday marks the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as he rode a donkey (the sign of a king who brings peace), and the crowds spread leafy branches and palm leaves in his path. But, within a few days the crowd chants of “Hosanna!” become “Crucify him!” This is the second part of Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday. A recounting of the last days of Jesus are read from the Bible and every congregation is invited to place themselves in that fateful crowd. Personally, for the past 20+ years, I tell the entire story of Jesus’ last supper, arrest, trial and crucifixion (called the Passion of Jesus) as the conclusion of worship on this Sunday. It is a moving experience for the congregation, and for me as I retell the story from the Bible.
Holy Week continues with the Triduum; Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday/Vigil of Easter, and concludes with Easter. I have found these worship services to be the most moving for the entire year. These worships services are more participatory than a typical Sunday worship. On Maundy Thursday, as Jesus’ last supper is remembered and Jesus’ command to ‘love one another as I have loved you’ is enfleshed as foot-washing is part of the worship. On Good Friday many churches hold three-hour worship services from noon to 3 pm, to match and remember the three hours from noon to 3 when Jesus died on the cross. It is a solemn service.
But all of Lent, all of Holy Week is prelude to the great celebration of Jesus resurrection on Easter. Since I was a child, I have been taking fresh flowers and arranging them into a cross so that where on Friday hung a stark wooden cross, on Easter Sunday it is bursting with life and the color of flowers. For me, and for Christians everywhere, Easter is the celebration of God’s love for humanity and proclaiming that nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even death.
As I prepare to begin Lent in 2022, and as I remember the Lenten season of year gone by, I am excited for this journey to begin…a journey of prayer and fasting…a journey of prayer and reflection…and a journey that will end with the promise of new, abundant, and eternal life.
~ Rev. Scot Sorensen has been an ICGS board member since 2017, and he’s a Lutheran pastor.