Dear Friends and Members of Shepherd of the Hills,

Below is an excerpt from Lutheran Service Book: Companion to the Services. This is given for your educational purposes so that we may all better understand this season of Lent that we enter into together. 

In His Love and Service,

Pastor Rust

“Lent is the Church’s deliberate return to the significance of Holy Baptism.  The season of Lent derives its name from the Old English word for spring, “lencten,” probably due to the lengthening of the daylight hours at this time of the year in the northern hemisphere. For the Church, as well, Lent is a spring season of awakening from the darkness and death of sin to the life and light of Christ in the Gospel. It calls for that newness of life that emerges and grows in the Christian by way of repentance and faith in Christ. Though it is hidden beneath the dust and dirt of Adam, the seed that is sown by the preaching of the Word of Christ germinates and begins to emerge, seeking the waters of Holy Baptism and the sunshine of the Holy Gospel, and even now anticipating the good fruits that are born by the life-giving tree of the cross.”

“Lent is a penitential season especially because and insofar as it is a catechetical season. Lenten catechesis might well include, as it often has, a focus on one or more of the Six Chief Parts of the Small Catechism. However, it is catechetical in a much deeper and broader sense than that. Lent is catechetical in the sense and to the extent that it is guided and governed by the preaching and Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in the cross and resurrection of Christ Jesus.”

“For catechumens in preparation for Holy Baptism, and for all the baptized faithful, the entire season of Lent is undertaken in view of the great exodus of Christ that He accomplishes in Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). His Church shares that exodus with Him by way of Holy Baptism, as St. Paul and St. Peter both indicate (1 Corinthians 10:1–5; Romans 6:3–8; 1 Peter 3:18–22).”

“The daily drowning of contrition and repentance, which characterizes the entire Christian life of discipleship, is deliberately intensified during Lent unto a renewal of faith and life in Christ. This repentance is not achieved by human wisdom, reason, strength, or effort. It is worked in man by God the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Law and the Gospel. It is the Law that crucifies the old Adam and the Gospel that raises up the new man in us. The preaching of the cross and Passion during Lent is neither an emotional appeal nor a motivational spiel. It is the preaching of repentance unto faith in the forgiveness of sins, and thus to the newness of life that is in Christ.”

“Lent accentuates the discipline of the Christian faith and life, the ongoing challenge of spiritual warfare with the old evil foe, and the necessary works of love and mercy that characterize the life that Christ now lives in us. It thus typifies the pilgrimage of life, our ongoing journey through the wilderness on our way to the promised land. To that end, it fixes our eyes on Christ Jesus, “the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right “hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). Not only has He left an example for us that we should follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21), but He is Himself our great champion against Satan, our great Redeemer from sin, death, and hell, who overcame the assaults of the devil and gave His life as a ransom for many that with cleansed hearts we might be prepared joyfully to celebrate the paschal feast in sincerity and truth. (Proper Preface for Lent, LSB Altar Book 230)”

“Although the season of Lent is penitential in its catechesis and in its focus on the significance of Holy Baptism, it should not be approached or treated as though it were forty days of Holy Week. It is better to understand Lent as a time of preparation for the observances of Holy Week and Easter.”

Excerpt From

Lutheran Service Book: Companion to the Services

Concordia Publishing House

https://books.apple.com/us/book/lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-services/id6443006306

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