Welcome to IBClent.com, a site dedicated to encouraging you through your journey through the season of Lent, which begins with the celebration of Shrove Tuesday and then Ash Wednesday, and culminates with Holy Week and Easter Sunday.

Andy McQuitty, Senior Pastor of Irving Bible Church wrote a piece for Chatter, the IBC monthly magazine, that addressed the meaning for and history of the season. We have provided it here for your exploration.

What is Lent?

The word Lent comes from a German word for “springtime.” The 40 days of Lent in the Christian calendar recall the 40 days of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Since the fourth century A.D., the Church has observed Lent as a time of “spring cleaning for the soul.” During this season, we imitate Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for 40 days. We focus on Christ’s battle with Satan that he waged in order to win our salvation. And we think about our temptations and sins and repent. Lent is a time to evaluate ourselves in light of God’s Word, to abandon sin, and to receive God’s forgiveness and strength. Lent has been called the season of “Bright Sadness” because it is a time of both celebration and mourning.

Biblical Foundation

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. (Matthew 4:1)

Every time Jesus responds to the three temptations of the devil in the wilderness, he quotes from Deuteronomy. “Man shall not live by bread alone but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3); “You shall not tempt the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 6:16); and “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve” (Deuteronomy 6:13). Moses is speaking to Israel about their time of testing in the wilderness. Look at Deuteronomy 8:2-3 and mark the parallels between Israel in the wilderness and Jesus in the wilderness:

“You shall remember all the ways which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness [as Jesus was led by the Spirit in the wilderness] these forty years [as Jesus was there forty days], that He might humble you, testing you [as Jesus was “tested”], to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you be hungry [as Jesus was made hungry by his fasting], and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 8:2-3)

God obviously intends a parallel between Jesus and the people of Israel in the wilderness. Jesus endured His “wilderness experience” to contrast that of Israel and to show us how to negotiate ours. How can we keep our eyes on the prize, avoid moral failures, and honor Christ with the fruit of obedient lives? By following in the footsteps of The Master. Lent is the Church’s annual “wilderness experience” with Christ. He went to the desert, and so should we.

IBC Lent Traditions

1. The Celebration of Shrove Tuesday

Learn more about Shrove Tuesday and how you and your family can celebrate.

2. The Observation of Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. On Ash Wednesday, ashes are mixed with water and imposed on the forehead with the sign of the cross. The ashes serve a dual purpose. They remind us of our mortality and they are a biblical symbol of repentance, sorrow, and humility.

From Chatter, March 2011

Ash Wednesday is the first day of the Lenten season, falling this year on March 9. IBC will hold its Ash Wednesday service in the main worship center at 6:30 p.m.

This will be a simple and shortened service with music, scripture reading and prayer. It’s a time for us as a community to prepare our hearts for the season of Lent. The latter half of the service is designed for you (individually or with your family) to have space to pray and contemplate the meaning of Lent.

The worship center will be open for you to come to the altar, find a quiet corner, or choose to interact with one or more of the creative stations available related to the themes of sin, repentance and forgiveness, including the ancient tradition of the ashes.

3. The Discipline of Fasting

After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. (Matthew 4:2)

Jesus fasted in the desert as a voluntary act of identification with the people of God in their wilderness deprivations. Jesus was saying, “I have been sent to lead the people of God out of the Egypt of sin into the promised land of salvation. To do this I must be one of them. Therefore I will take on the testing that they experienced. I will allow my heart to be probed with fasting to show where my allegiance is.” Fasting is a temporary, voluntary experience of deprivation that reveals the heart:

More than any other single Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us. . . We cover up what is inside us with food and other good things, but in fasting these things surface. If pride controls us, it will be revealed almost immediately. David said, “I humbled my soul with fasting” (Ps. 69:10). Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear — if they are within us, they will surface during fasting (Richard Foster).

The fast is usually expressed in giving up something for Lent that we value: a favorite food, activity, or even sleep. Every time you get an appetite for those items, you will be reminded of the reason for your fast.

4. The Stones

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:1-4)

Should he have so desired, the same Jesus who later commanded water to become wine could most certainly have satiated his hunger by telling those stones to become bread. But instead, he trusted his heavenly Father with his needs and let the stones remain stones. From that moment forward, those stones served as symbols of Jesus’ willingness to subjugate his desire to God’s will and to sacrifice his comfort for God’s glory, even to the point of enduring a cross to redeem God’s people.

During Lent at IBC, we provide small stones for people to carry in their purse or pocket as a reminder to identify with Jesus in his willing submission to God’s will, letting “the stones remain stones” and trusting the Heavenly Father in significant new ways.

5. Significance of 40

The 40 days of Lent end on Holy Thursday (April 21 in 2011). The number 40 is very familiar in the Bible. In the story of Noah and the flood, it rains 40 days and 40 nights (Gen. 7:4,12,17; 8:6). After the sealing of the covenant at Mt. Sinai, Moses is with God for 40 days and 40 nights (Ex. 24:18). In Numbers 13, the Israelites distrust Yahweh’s promise to give them the land. As punishment, the people wander for 40 years. When Elijah is being pursued by Queen Jezebel, he travels 40 days and nights until he comes to Horeb (Sinai), 1 Kings 19:8. And Jesus is tempted in the desert for 40 days and nights, and his ascension to heaven occurs 40 days after the Resurrection (Acts 1:3).

I think the biblical significance of the number 40 is that it denotes a time of grace during which God is preparing to do something stupendous. After the flood, a new creation begins. After Moses converses with God, the covenant is renewed. After Israel’s wandering in the wilderness, they enter the Promised Land. After Elijah’s journey, God strengthens him to resume his prophetic ministry. After Jesus’ temptation, he begins his public ministry. And after his death and resurrection, he ascends into heaven’s glory. Do you need that kind of renewal and hope? Then come to the desert. Do Lent with IBC this year!

6. The Black Cloth

The black cloth is used throughout the season of Lent for us to acknowledge our sin and need for salvation.  At any time before, during, or after our worship service people are encourage to take one of the black sharpies near the cloth and name the sin that they are asking God to forgive and help them overcome. Then on Good Friday we will drape the Cross with the cloth where it will remain until it is re draped with a white cloth on Easter morning.