The word “Lent” is derived from the Old English “lencten”, which was the word for “Spring”. You can probably see our modern English word “Lengthen” in the word as well – this is not by accident. The word for Spring sounds like “lengthen” because in Spring the days “lengthen” as the amount of daylight increases from Winter. By the way, what we call Lent probably has an older name in Latin “Quadrigesima” – so if you want to sound really important you can tell people you’re observing “Quadrigesima,” not just “Lent”. So Lent is tied to Spring, just as Easter is tied to Spring (bunnies, chicks, bright colors, flowers, etc). 

But I bet you didn’t know that “Spring Break” was tied to Lent. Well, sort of anyway. This past Sunday was the Sunday of “Laetare”. It gets this name because there used to be a Psalm that was read at the beginning of every service, and the first word in that Psalm usually became the name of the Sunday. Last Sunday that “Psalm” would have been Isaiah 66:10-11, which starts off “Laetare Jerusalem et conventum facite omnes…” or “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her…” This was chosen because we’re at about the middle of Lent (March 12 was the 20th day), and people who were fasting were….well…getting kind of tired of it. So on Laetare Sunday, and possibly throughout Laetare week, you could have taken a break from your fasting, relaxed the rules a little bit – put some creamer in your coffee, some butter on your bread and water, etc.

Now all of that harkens back to a much more serious and disciplined celebration of Lent – and of the Church Year and Christian discipleship in general. To be honest, I think we have lost some of the discipleship that the Church Year used to offer to us because we’ve just made the seasons of the Church Year times when there are different colors at worship…but that’s probably a different newsletter article. This one is about Lent and Spring Break.

Our Muslim friends next door are wrapping up their *very intense* season of Ramadan this week. They don’t eat or drink anything while the Sun is up during this month-long fast, and even when they do eat in the dark, they are supposed to limit their consumption to vegetables and water. That’s hardcore, and there’s something impressive about it – but there’s also something beautifully *not impressive* about Christians and our “Laetare Sundays”. 

It’s beautifully not impressive because we recognize our limitations. We are sinners. We’re not going to be righteous. We will go charging into our Lenten fasts and by the fourth week, we’re going to say, “uhh…could we take a break? I didn’t realize it was going to be this hard.” And to that, God says, “Yes, Rejoice with Jerusalem, because your righteousness is not found in your practice of Lent, but in my Son.” So take a break this week, and once you’ve rested, maybe think about how that rest might help you to go strong into the rest of Lent, remembering that Christ is your righteousness.