Confessing Evangelical

Marty Sweeney at Couldn't Help Noticing voices a common objection of non-Augsburg evangelicals to the practice of Lent, and Ash Wednesday in particular:

On Wednesday evening, dozens of Protestant churches in my area held Ash Wednesday services. I’ve always been uncomfortable with this practice. A quick research of Ash Wednesday on the internet yields much information on its connections not only with the Catholic Church but also with a sacramentalism that Protestants broke away from after the Reformation.

He also points out (and I'm in more agreement with him on this one) that the way many people mark Lent "in the most trivial of ways" (giving up chocolate etc.) rather than as "a time of inner cleansing and introspection in preparation for the celebration of what Christ did on our behalf" - not that I could lay any great claims to being Good At Lent myself.

But the main objection to Ash Wednesday and Lent seems to be that it's "a bit Catholic". But just because something is done in the Roman Catholic Church doesn't mean it should be cast aside by evangelicals (whether of the Augsburg or non-Augsburg variety). The English and Lutheran Reformers all retained the practice of Lent, and Ash Wednesday in particular. Possibly the greatest of all Lent prayers comes from the Book of Common Prayer, after all:

Almighty and everlasting God,
who hatest nothing that thou hast made
and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent;
Create and make in us new and contrite hearts,
that we, worthily lamenting our sins,
and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Ash Wednesday and Lent have a fine evangelical, Reformational heritage. Certainly we should, as Mr Sweeney points out, take "Christ seriously all year long", and this includes daily penitence 365 days a year, not just for 40 days - as Luther points out in the fourth section on Holy Baptism in the Small Catechism. But that doesn't mean it's not a good idea to have a particular focus at this time of year, just as we focus on the Incarnation at Christmas without ignoring it the rest of the year.

I used to share many of Mr Sweeney's concerns about Lent, for pretty well the same reasons. But I now think I was mistaken - that I was focusing overly on external actions that seemed "a bit too 'Catholic'", like the imposition of ashes. Over the past couple of years, I've found the following words from the Swedish Lutheran bishop Bo Giertz particularly helpful in setting out what truly distinguishes evangelical Christianity from Roman Catholicism:

He who cannot distinguish between a cow and a horse ought never to discuss questions of farming. He who cannot distinguish between evangelical and Roman Christianity better than that he believes that a man who makes the sign of the cross or bends his knees or makes confession must be a Roman Catholic, that man ought never to discuss matters that pertain to Christianity.

Such external things as confession, bowing our knees, making the sign of the cross mark no distinction between Protestants and Roman Catholics. Luther himself went often to confession, he bended his knees both at home and in the church, and in his little catechism he suggests that a Christian should make the sign of the cross both morning and evening. In such matters there is no difference between the pope and ourselves except that we consciously remove all ceremonies that are unscriptural, but make use of all others in evangelical freedom, when they serve the edification of believers.

The deciding factor is something entirely different. It is the doctrine of justification by faith. He alone is an evangelical Christian who possesses the secret of faith in his heart, so that he believes in the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ’s atonement and through that faith is united with his Saviour. That faith is found only where God through His Spirit and His Word teaches us the poverty of the spirit and daily leads us to the cross of Christ.

Evangelical Christianity stands or falls with justification through faith. When men live in God’s justification, then all of life, both worship and daily living, falls into a specific pattern.

(Bo Giertz, Messages for the Church in Times of Crisis, page 14, via Pr Brondos.)

Ash Wednesday and Lent are matters of "evangelical freedom", but they "serve the edification of believers", not least since they provide a particular opportunity to focus our minds on "the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ’s atonement", the heart of our evangelical faith.

And speaking of Lent for evangelicals, a reminder of the Lent devotional series currently underway on our church's website. The current devotion can be accessed through the introductory page.

Today's devotion is a real corker, looking at the Divine Benediction, from our retired pastor Revd Arnold Rakow. Another highlight was the devotion for Ash Wednesday, which reminded us that "when God’s Word is preached, it is not mere utterance, but the power of God dynamically working ... [and] directed at salvation."