Fasting in anticipation of Easter has basically always existed in Christian practice, but the 40-day pre-paschal season we know as Lent and its inaugural service, Ash Wednesday, have a more complicated origin.
The first day of the Lenten fast finally took on the name “Ash Wednesday” in 1091 when the practice of applying ashes (a common Biblical symbol for penance e.g. 2 Sam. 13:19; Job 42:5-6; Jer. 6:26; Dan. 9:3; Matt. 11:21; etc.) was officially instated by Pope Urban II. These ashes are typically made from the dried palm branches of the previous Palm Sunday, adding to the dramatic dualism with which Christians celebrate the Easter season, as those who both adore Jesus and those who crucified him. Ashes are traditionally applied to the penitent’s forehead cruciformly with the invocation “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Other typical elements of the service include prayers of confession, the reading of Psalm 51.
Concerning Lent proper, this season of solemnity is celebrated in remembrance of Jesus’ forty days of temptation by the devil in the Judean wilderness. The purpose of Lent is “the preparation of the believer for Easter through prayer, mortifying the flesh, repentance of sins, almsgiving, simple living, and self-denial” (Wiki). Typically, Lent is observed with fasting, avoidance of luxuries and increased spiritual devotions. In most traditions, fasting was mandatory for those age 21-59 (disregarding illness or demanding physical labor), but requirements are much looser today. As a solemn season, crosses, crucifixes, religious paintings and other iconography are traditionally veiled during Lent to add to the penitential atmosphere. Vestment and veil colors during Lent include violet, black, muslin, and rose. While purple is usually associated with royalty, it is also the color of penitence in the church as it is the color of the robe the Roman soldiers used to mock the crucified Christ (Mark 15:17). Black is a common color of somberness, and muslin symbolizes the sackcloth of penance, but pink is actually a color of joy. It appears at the mid-point of Lent on Laetare Sunday as a foretaste of the joy of Easter.
Hopefully, this little history of Ash Wednesday and Lent gives Christians a greater appreciation for this longstanding church tradition. Sadly, though, these practices have never been common among Baptist, Reformed, Evangelical and other Low-Church denominations. The argument for this abstention mainly being the Regulative Principle of Worship which prohibits any worship practice not explicitly affirmed in scripture. However, many think it is a shame that the church would arbitrarily keep itself from a season of reflection and sorrow over the depth of our sin. Christ has conquered and returned Christians to communion with God, but it was Christians who ran from him. God has risen from the grave and brought us salvation, but it was us who nailed him to the cross, and without ruminating upon the bitterness of sin during Lent, we’ll be hard-pressed to enjoy the sweetness of Christ during Easter.
