The rhythms and riches of Lent.

Leigh Hatts says Easter doesn’t make sense without observing Lent …

D. H. Lawrence recognised ‘the inward rhythm of man and women’ when he wrote of ‘the sadness of Lent, the delight of Easter, the wonder of Pentecost, the fires of St John, the candles on the graves of All Souls’, the lit-up tree of Christmas, all representing kindled rhythmic emotions in the souls of men and women...’.

Pastor Iuventus, author of Diary of a City Priest, recently reflected on the dangers of moving the observance of special days: ‘Everything about human anthropology would tell us that the body and mind are attuned to the subtlest rhythms. In dividing our calendar with God’s time we were acknowledging that such rhythms are part of our God-created, redeemed humanity.’

‘Seasonality teaches us patience and restraint,’ says chef Claire Ptak who sells hot cross buns only on a few days prior to Good Friday at her Violet Bakery in London’s Dalston.

So after enjoying pancakes, or even an ancient Shrove football game, we can undertake a long journey through Lent and go up to Jerusalem with Jesus for Passover. Easter only makes sense if you have lived out the forty days of Lent and its Holy Week climax. ‘There can be no carnival without the ensuing Lent and without these rhythms life is a featureless flatland,’ claimed Richard Chartres when he was Bishop of London.

Blessed John Henry Newman, preaching at St Mary the Virgin Oxford in 1838, said: ‘None rejoice at Eastertide less than those who have not grieved in Lent. This is what is seen in the world at large. To them one season is the same as any other, and they take no account of any. Feast day and fast day, holy tide and other tide, are one and the same to them. Hence they do not realise the next world at all.’ Lent is an opportunity to renew our friendship with God.

‘What we celebrate is ancient and stands for deep continuities and rituals without which people become disorientated,’ said Bishop Chartres when taking part in Beating the Bounds of his home parish on the eve of Ascension Day.

The liturgy in church is the apex of the church’s life and anyone can participate at the parish church as much as in Jerusalem and Rome. There can also be much pleasure in rediscovering the seasonal Christian-based customs buried deep within culture and liturgy.

Leigh Hatts is author of Keeping Lent and Easter: Discovering the Rhythms and Riches of the Christian Seasons, available now in paperback, priced £9.99.