Lent and Little Easters

Sundays are an important day in the life of a Christian. Though, like many other things in our lives, this holy day can often just seem familiar. But, there is actually something that we can learn about Sundays during this time in Lent. It is not totally true that the feast of Easter is once a year. Sure there is the major feast that takes place at the end of Lent, but technically, within the tradition, every Sunday is a little Easter. Every Sunday, no matter where in the liturgical year, is an Easter celebration.

So let me point something out to you that perhaps you have never noticed, or perhaps wondered at some point about Lent. Lent is modeled after the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert before being tempted by the devil (Matt. 4). But if you actually counted the days from Ash Wednesday to Easter it actually makes up more than 40 days. Why is this?

Lent lasts longer than 40 days because Sundays are not included. The Sundays of Lent are certainly part of the time of Lent, but they are not prescribed days of fast and abstinence. This is because Sundays are all these ‘little Easters.’ Sunday is always a day of Resurrection, calling for feasting rather than fasting. These little Easters are interruptions of sheer joy in a season designated for sober reflection on the life and death of Christ. They provide small but glorious fueling stations on our way to Resurrection Day.

So what lessons might we draw from this? Sundays are always about feasting and celebration, even in Lent. These are moments within the Lenten season to come up for air, to take a moment from those practices that you dedicated yourself to, and feast and celebrate the blessings of God in your life. Sunday worship commemorates the completion of God’s creative work as well as our assent to creation as peace and the eternal gift of salvation. Sundays in Lent can be moments where we stop from the grind of work and the weight of our Lenten discipline to pause and celebrate the reason that we exist and the hope that we have in Jesus.

This coming Sunday, come to church and partake of the eucharist, stay awhile and relax with your family of God at St Paul’s, and spend the rest of the day in reflection and celebration of the wonderful work that Jesus has done in the Resurrection.