The word is apparently from the Old English, lengten, meaning Spring. In the Roman Catholic Church Lent came to mean a season of penitence in preparation for Easter. We Protestants noted that it was a time when Catholics had to eat fish on Fridays and give up something. (Non Catholics suspected that nothing important was given up.)

Some of us, including Roman Catholics, had to learn that there was a history behind that Lenten practice. Today it is much more than Friday fish and no Hershey bars for forty days, but whatever it might mean to those who keep Lent it still points back to an ancient Church history that needs noting.

Some histories of the early church tell us of a three year preparation time for baptism, and baptism was and is the way we become part of the Church. Baptisms took place on Easter, about the earliest time weather would permit, and a major focus in the preparation was the last forty days. When we remember that becoming a Christian would put your life on the line literally, it wasn’t something to rush into. These were the days of Christian persecution.
 
I’ve read some modern authors’ suggestion we revive that preparation practice. With so much preparation we would not need other training programs for preachers or teachers. You could just select these from the membership. There are accounts of this happening in the early congregations. It may not be a bad idea at all.
 
Some other elements of a revival of the practice may not work so well. In some accounts the method of Baptism was pouring, with the candidate standing in a shallow pool in the sanctuary, in the altogether. The significance of standing bare and open before God and everyone is evident, but the practice will remain a matter of history.
 
These are some things that come to my mind as I see Ash Wednesday appear on the calendar. Christmas has become the major Christian holiday even though without the Resurrection Christmas is without meaning. The Apostle Paul said the “all is vain” without it.

It was the hope of early Church leaders that setting major Christian feast days at the time of major pagan celebrations would push the paganism away. There were pagan celebrations aplenty, particularly those associated with nature religions/fertility cults. The leaders were wrong. Though we do better with Christmas, which was set to replace the Winter Solstice, celebration. Though we call it Christ...mas it is still much less than it should be.

Easter, the Vernal Equinox celebration, (the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Vernal Equinox) still carries the name of Easter (Ester, Esther, Istar...) Bunnies, eggs, and new clothes, especially for women, are still cherished elements.

We will become very frustrated if we try to do away with what has become a major marketing season. But we could spend some time recognizing that cuddly little bunnies and colored eggs, even chocolate ones, do not carry the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Time spent reflecting on our baptismal vows, what our salvation cost God and what it has cost us will be time well spent.