For over 1,500 years, Christians around the world from a variety of denominations and backgrounds have honored the season of Lent. While different traditions might celebrate in different ways, they all have the same goal: to prepare their hearts for the joy of Easter Sunday.
Whether you’ve honored Lent for years or are new to the practice, before the season begins, let’s take a moment to learn or remember what it is all about.
What is Lent?
The word “Lent” literally means “springtime” in Old English. In the church calendar, the season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and continues for the 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday. This time of preparation mirrors Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness, where He allowed Himself to be tested and tempted by Satan.
The invitation of the season is to step away from the monotone of our daily lives and into the wilderness of honest self-examination. Traditional practices of fasting, prayer, dependence and generosity create space for transformation.
We approach these 40 days not as a requirement, but as an opportunity—a joyful season where, through facing the horror of what our sin cost, we find our truest joy in the One who bore it all.
Key pillars of Lent
Traditionally, there are three practices that are core to this time of preparation and repentance: prayer, fasting and generosity.
Prayer
In this season, we’re invited to bring our whole selves before the Lord: our longing, repentance, confusion and hope.
Lent reminds us that prayer is not about perfect words but about honest presence. Prayer exposes how often we try to manage our lives independently, revealing our deep need for divine guidance and presence. In the words of Dallas Willard: “Do you know why you don’t pray? You trust yourself too much.”
As we pray more intentionally, we discover that God isn’t distant, but always near, found by those who seek Him. The testing of Lent is won on our knees, where we learn that dependence on God is the very essence of human flourishing. Through sustained prayer, we align our desires with God’s heart and prepare ourselves to walk with Jesus toward the cross.
Fasting
Fasting is the practice of voluntary surrender—laying down good things so we can receive the best thing: God Himself. This is often the practice most identified with these 40 days leading up to Easter. During Lent, fasting helps expose what we rely on for comfort, control or distraction.
Jesus fasted in the wilderness, confronting temptation not with power, but with trust in the Father’s word. This practice isn’t about earning God’s favor, but about breaking the tyranny of immediate gratification that dulls our spiritual sensitivity.
Fasting is a tangible way of proclaiming that Jesus is better than anything this world offers, even its good gifts. It teaches us freedom—not from desire, but from being ruled by it.
Genoristy
Generosity, specifically focusing on the practice of giving to the poor, loosens the grip of possessions and widens the heart. It turns our attention outward, reminding us that love of God is inseparable from love of neighbor.
During Lent, generosity becomes a spiritual discipline, not a reaction to guilt or abundance. Jesus consistently aligned devotion to God with care for the poor, the vulnerable and the forgotten. When we give, we participate in God’s justice and compassion, becoming conduits of His mercy. Through generosity, we discover that generosity doesn’t deplete us, but actually expands our capacity for joy and deepens our solidarity with Christ.
The invitation of the season is to step away from the monotone of our daily lives and into the wilderness of honest self-examination. Traditional practices of fasting, prayer, dependence and generosity create space for transformation.
Key days during the Lenten season
Within the season of Lent, there are several days that have special significance.
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, confronting us with the stark reality of our mortality: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (See Gen. 3:19.) Many Christian traditions will place ashes on foreheads in a special service. This symbol isn’t meant to be morbid, but honest—acknowledging the fragility and brevity of human life.
This day invites us into radical humility, stripping away our pretensions and illusions of self-sufficiency. We begin our Lenten journey by naming what is true: We are finite, fallen and in desperate need of redemption. We begin Lent by naming our need for grace and our dependence on God.
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday honors Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when crowds welcomed Him with palm branches and shouts of “Hosanna!” (which means, “Save us, save us now!”). The same crowds crying, “Hosanna!” would soon shout, “Crucify Him,” revealing how quickly human enthusiasm can evaporate when confronted by a kingdom that operates by radically different values. Palm Sunday teaches us about the dangers of projecting our own agendas onto Jesus, rather than submitting to His.
This day inaugurates Holy Week by showing us a King who rides a donkey—not a war horse—a Savior who chooses vulnerability, and peace over violence. Palm Sunday invites us to examine what kind of Messiah we truly want and whether we’re willing to follow Jesus all the way to Calvary.
Maundy Thursday
The word “maundy” comes from the Latin mandatum (commandment), referring to Jesus’ new command: “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12, NKJV). On Maundy Thursday, we recall the Last Supper, when Jesus instituted the Eucharist and washed His disciples’ feet.
This day holds together the intimacy of fellowship, the shock of betrayal and the anguish of Gethsemane. Jesus knew what was coming yet chose to love His disciples completely. Maundy Thursday teaches us that worship and service are inseparable, that communion means participation in Christ’s suffering, and that love always costs something. We end this day with somber silence, following Jesus into the dark of the garden.
Good Friday
Good Friday stands at the heart of the Christian story—the day Love endured the cross and entered fully into suffering, injustice, abandonment and death. This day refuses to sanitize or belittle crucifixion or rush past the horror of what sin required and what love bore.
Silence, sorrow and grief mark this day, yet hope is hidden within it—the veil tore, access to the Father opened wide, and nothing would ever be the same again. The cross reveals the true cost of forgiveness and the lengths to which God will go to reclaim His beloved children. As we stand at the foot of the cross, we’re simultaneously confronted with our own sin and overwhelmed by the stunning grace we could never deserve, but freely receive.
Holy Saturday
Holy Saturday is the day of waiting—the space between promise and fulfillment. Jesus was in the tomb, and the disciples sat with confusion, fear and grief. In many ways this Saturday is the picture of our Christian walk. We are in between the “now and not yet” of the finished work of the cross and our deep longing for the renewal of all things.
This day honors the reality of unresolved pain and unanswered questions, the “meantime” we often resist but constantly inhabit. Holy Saturday teaches patience, trust and faith in the dark. Silence doesn’t mean absence. God is still at work, even when we can’t see it.
Easter Sunday
He is risen! Easter Sunday proclaims the victory of God over sin, death and the grave. The resurrection declares that love is always stronger than death. God’s kingdom has invaded the present, and nothing will ever be the same.
This is not just the end of Lent. Easter is the beginning of the New Creation, where we’re invited to participate in resurrection life right now, not just eventually. The empty tomb means every broken thing can be made whole, and every captive is set free because Jesus is alive and His kingdom is at hand.
The resurrection sends us out as people of hope, renewal and joy, empowered to live as witnesses to the impossible-made-possible. The promise of Easter is this: Because Christ lives, everything—including us—is being made new. He is risen indeed!
