Lenten Influence Christians Beyond Catholics Paying More Heed To Observing An Ancient, Holy Season

You’re a television junkie and decide to give up the tube for Lent. Is it OK to tape “Seinfeld” and watch the shows after Easter?

You’ve tried half a dozen times to quit smoking and believe that Lenten discipline will help you finally kick the habit. Is it appropriate to use Christianity’s holiest season as a crutch for self-improvement?

Such questions affect not only Roman Catholics, who have been raised in a rigorous 1,700-year-old tradition that tweaks their religious antennae every spring, but also an increasing number of Protestants who are starting to reclaim ritual practices they abandoned during the Reformation.

Whatever one’s ritual, “the purpose of Lent is to prepare for Easter,” said the Rev. William E. Foley, pastor of Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. “It’s not a test of self-control.”

Foley agrees, however, that Lent requires some sacrifice or alteration in lifestyle, a kind of spiritual tuning up before the annual remembrance of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection two days later.

The degree and appropriateness of that change depends on each individual’s interpretation of Lent, a 40-day period, excluding Sundays, between Ash Wednesday and Easter. This year, Lent started Feb. 25 and continues through April 11.

For most Christians, Easter will be celebrated April 12, though Eastern Orthodox Christians will observe it a week later.

Lutherans and Episcopalians have always observed Lent as part of the liturgical year, and participation is a personal choice rather than a requirement. But in recent years many Presbyterians and Methodists, already keen on Lenten sermons and midweek Bible studies, have added Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday gatherings to their Easter calendar. The word Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for spring, Lencten.

On March 1, thousands of evangelical Christians joined Campus Crusade for Christ founder Bill Bright and religious broadcaster Pat Robertson in a 40-day period of fasting and prayer that seems very much like Lent but that they call PrayUSA! ‘98.

For some people, the question, “What are you giving up for Lent?” has transcended the religious domain and attained broader cultural significance akin to “What are your New Year’s resolutions?”

In numerous interviews, members of various faiths said that they or someone they know have given up one or more of the following during Lent: chocolate, Pepsi, newspapers and magazines, Starburst, peanut butter, hard liquor, beer, politics, working on Sunday, bread, cheese, salt, coffee, celery, nuts - and obsessing about old boyfriends.

Others, including Catholics, said they prefer to “take on” rather than sacrifice something, such as adopting a positive attitude, starting a new exercise regimen or doing daily yoga exercises.

“Giving up is not too much of a focus for us,” said the Rev. Lawrence Matthews, pastor of the Vienna, Va., Baptist Church, which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the less conservative American Baptist Convention. “It’s more picking up an intentional devotional life in terms of living today, a more positive approach to enrich spirituality.”

Matthews said he long ago abandoned the Baptist “hostility” to Lenten terminology and Lenten candles. He publishes Lenten texts and information in the church bulletin and directs Wednesday night study groups on the history of Lent.

Topics this year include the use of icons in Eastern Orthodox services and Celtic prayers and hymns.

In his sanctuary, purple candles are lighted on the Sundays of Lent - one, then two and so forth until all six are lighted on Palm Sunday. Then, on the eve of Good Friday - after the electric lights have been turned off - all the candles are extinguished in an ancient Tenebrae, or darkness, service and the congregation exits in silence.

On Easter Sunday, amid hymns of prayer and praise, a white candle is lighted to symbolize Jesus as the risen Lord, the Messiah.

Matthews, who studied at Southeastern Baptist and Princeton Theological seminaries, said Baptists and other “free church” Christians generally have taken on a more relaxed attitude toward high-church practices.

But the nationwide call to evangelicals to fast and pray comes not from Christian tradition, he said, but from a modern-day application of Old Testament principles.

“Our motivation may be different from Catholics,” Bright said when asked whether the spiritual goals of the evangelical fast are not unlike the centuries-old Catholic observance of Lent. “For myself and my associates, it is not because it is the historical or ritualistic thing to do.”

Instead, Bright said, PrayUSA! ‘98 arose out of concern for the United States, which he says has lost its religious underpinnings and “is in desperate danger of losing its soul.” He quoted Old Testament passages in which God calls on his people to “turn from their wicked ways” or suffer the consequences.

Bright, 77, hopes that 2 million evangelicals will heed the call to pray and fast and thereby “draw closer to God.” It’s his fifth 40-day juice-and-water fast, the fifth and longest of five national pray-fasts he has promoted and the first to coincide with Lent.

“The Lord led us because Easter-Resurrection is the most important day in the life of the believer,” he said.

Foley and other Catholics agree on the importance of the season, which Catholics have marked by fasting, praying and repenting before Easter since the early days of Christianity.

Catholics vary on how often they attend Mass during Lent or contribute to charity, but all Catholics 14 and older must not eat meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and other Fridays during Lent. And everyone age 18 to 58 must fast, eating the equivalent of one meal, on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Yet fasting, encouraged throughout Lent as a private devotion, can mean many things, from giving up meals or sweets to turning off the computer or CD player, said Foley, whose response to the “Seinfeld” question will hearten fans who gave up TV for Lent but don’t want to miss two of the popular show’s last few original episodes.

Taping the show is permissible because “the idea of sacrificing that time during the season of Lent is to free you to do other things of a more spiritual nature,” the priest said. “If after the season you want to feast on that which you gave up, that’s fine.”

Foley also believes that giving up a bad habit, such as smoking, drinking or doing drugs, is a legitimate goal for the holy season.

“Lent is a very appropriate time to let go of those things that keep us from the Lord,” he said.

Again, it’s a matter of interpretation.

The Rev. Sherman Hicks, pastor of First Trinity Lutheran Church in Washington, said using Lent to help kick a habit is “doing the right thing for the wrong reason.” The “primary impetus should be setting oneself right with the Lord,” to “appreciate the sacrifices Jesus made” during his 40-day fast in the wilderness and his death on the cross.

Appropriately or not, many people use “momentous calendar events to jump-start self-initiated behavior change,” said John Norcross, a professor and clinical psychologist at the University of Scranton, Pa. It’s common for Christians to use the discipline of Lent, and for Jews to use Yom Kippur, as a catalyst for dumping bad habits without having to consult a professional counselor, he said.

Involvement with a religious community to make a behavioral change can increase the chances of success, Norcross said.

The key is not the level of one’s faith, he said, but a social support group that reinforces people’s need for change, applauds their successes and helps them keep going.