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In a year dedicated to John Calvin’s legacy, it is intriguing
to note one thing Presbyterians cannot trace back to him:
our practice of Lent. Those of us who choose to “give up”
something for Lent are not doing so with Calvin’s blessing.
More than likely Calvin would also be surprised to find
Presbyterians wearing ashes on their foreheads at the
beginning of Lent, because Protestants have historically
avoided that practice. For many years Presbyterians and
other Reformed Christians shied away from all things
Roman Catholic. The timidity, of course, was something we
inherited from the Protestant Reformation. In their efforts
to free Christians from what they saw to be the oppressive
rule-making of the Catholic Church in Rome, Calvin and other
Reformation theologians sought to eradicate practices of
popular piety that were not singularly Christ-centered. As
with any major shift or movement, however, the pendulum
swung so far away from Roman Catholicism that much of
the Reformed tradition lost ties to some Christian practices
that we are now moving to recover. Practices such as
pilgrimage, iconography and veneration of saints were
not necessary practices for salvation, and, in fact, said the
Reformers, these disciplines could sometimes lead people
away from Christ. What’s worse, the costs involved in
carrying out these practices had become a means to line
the pockets of the church.
Ash Wednesday and other Lenten observances were among
those practices that Reformers sought to eliminate based on
their conviction that they manipulated the hearts of believers
to trust in ritual and right practice, rather than devoting their
lives in pure service to Christ. In his Institutes (IV.12.20),
John Calvin criticized the fasting associated with Lent as a “superstitious observance,” believing that the discipline had
become a substitute rather than an aid to right relationship
with Christ and service to God. 1
So, what has prompted Presbyterians to revive Lenten
observance? For one thing, Vatican II brought major
reforms within the Roman Catholic Church. These reforms
embraced the best of Protestantism and opened a door that
had been closed to increased dialogue and relationships
between Catholics and Protestants. It paved the way to
a mutual sharing of the best of both traditions which in
turn led to liturgical resources that would allow the two
traditions to worship in greater unity. For instance, in 1970
The Westminster Press published a new Worshipbook that offered Presbyterians a full Lord’s Day lectionary, and
thereby, a resource to promote lectionary-based preaching.
Following the lectionary made the church year more visible
to worshipers. In turn, those who planned worship began
to take greater notice of special days and seasons, which
over the years has played a significant role in the Reformed
tradition’s reclamation of classical spiritual practices tied to
the season of Lent.
Another factor in Presbyterian reclamation of Roman Catholic
practices such as those associated with Lent is that the
boundaries between traditions are not what they used to be.
If you survey Presbyterians today you are as likely to meet
someone who was raised Roman Catholic as you are to
find someone who was raised Baptist. Recent studies have
disclosed that over 40 percent of adults have switched to a
religious affiliation that is different from the tradition in which
they were raised. 2 Even among those who were raised in
and remain in the Protestant faith, a goodly number change
denominations at least once in their adult lives. It only makes
sense that as people migrate from one church to another
(or from one religion to another) they bring pieces of their
previous worship traditions with them. An increasing number
of Protestants are dipping into the well of Roman Catholic
spiritual practices such as lectio divina, centering prayer and
Benedictine observance of the Daily Office. In this sense,
Lent may be part of a trend toward a recovery of classical
spiritual disciplines — a trend that is also increasing our
willingness to embrace mystery, ritual and awe.
In this year of honoring Calvin’s 500-year legacy, it is
intriguing to speculate what the Reformer might say to
Presbyterians in the 21st century concerning our
return to Lenten practices. If Calvin’s chief opposition to Lent
was around fasting, then we should not worry that we’ve
become overly rigorous in our Lenten devotion. Few, if any,
Presbyterians have taken to the extreme abstention from
food that was prescribed by the Church in the days before
the Reformation. There are practices in which Presbyterians “give up” something during Lent and may remove one
thing from their diet, such as chocolate, sugar, carbonated
sodas — or even something as substantial as all meat or dairy
products. Some choose to fast for one meal each week or
perhaps for 24 hours and donate the cost of the
food they would have eaten to a Presbyterian mission. There
are also those who are expanding the notion of “fasting”
to encompass something other than food, who will instead
observe a Lenten practice of abstaining from something like
watching television or using a vehicle.
Such practices are perfectly in line with Calvin’s theology
if we are engaging them as a means of increasing our
attention to Christ. If Calvin were here to see the creative
acts of Presbyterian worship, perhaps he might indeed
be willing to modify his earlier critique of the Lenten
observance. Calvin was opposing a system that demanded
acts of piety as proof of unconditional loyalty to the church
when these acts had become a substitute for authentic
devotion to Christ. He objected to Lenten fasting on the
basis of its elevation to a practice that somehow earned
God’s favor and he would have nothing to do with it.
We can discern the appropriateness of our Lenten
observance by evaluating our practices in light of the gospel.
We honor Calvin’s legacy when we refrain from empty
rituals that are not prescribed by the gospel. More important,
we honor Christ when we choose Lenten disciplines that
are in keeping with the gospel. As we prepare to observe
another season of Lent, let’s consider how our practices
offer an occasion for more focused prayer and attention to
Scripture, and thus, devotion to Christ himself.
Notes
1. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.12.20
(Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960).
2. Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life, Feb. 25, 2008.
Tammy Wiens is associate for spiritual formation,
Theology Worship and Education. She may be contacted at
(888) 728-7228, x5496, or by email. |
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