According to one definition, Lent is:
. . . a solemn religious observance in the Christian liturgical calendar that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends approximately six weeks (40 days) later on Holy Thursday, the memorial of the Lord’s supper the Thursday of Holy Week before Easter Sunday. The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer for Easter through prayer, doing penance, mortifying the flesh, repentance of sins, almsgiving, and denial of ego. This event is observed in the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, Moravian, Presbyterian, Oriental Orthodox, Reformed, and Roman Catholic Churches. Some Anabaptist and evangelical churches also observe the Lenten season.1
While the Bible does not give any instruction to practice or participate in Lent, many churches do. In fact, since the contemplative prayer movement has come into full swing, more and more churches are observing Lent. And, in fact, Lent is often being used as the open door to bring contemplative prayer into a church. This is largely done through the multitudes of books from religious publishers who have now become conduits for contemplative spirituality.*
Here are the titles of some books currently on the market that incorporate contemplative into Lent:
- Lent and Holy Week (Bridges to Contemplative Living) by Thomas Merton and Jonathan Montaldo
- Wonderous Encounters (Scriptures for Lent) by Richard Rohr
A Living Lent: A Contemplative Daily Companion for Lent & Holy Week by Peter Traben Haas
The Ignatian Workout for Lent: 40 Days of Prayer, Reflection, and Action by Tim Muldoon
A Lenten Journey – paperback: A Contemplative Devotional On the Passion and Resurrection of Christ by Bill O’Byrne
Sacred Space for Lent
40 Days, 40 Ways: A New Look at Lent by Marcellino D’Ambrosio
Lent With Evelyn Underhill
Journey to the Center: A Lenten Passage by Thomas Keating
Lent and Easter Wisdom by Henri Nouwen
The Lenten Labyrinth by Edward Hays
Lenten Reflections: From the Desert to the Resurrection by Milton Lopes
Sensing God: Learning to Meditate During Lent by Laurence Freeman
While many of these books may be from Catholic or Orthodox publishers, do not think that will keep evangelicals from reading them. As we have mentioned in other documents, Catholic mystic Richard Rohr was told by one of his publishers that his largest reading audience was young evangelical men (today’s and tomorrow’s pastors).
In addition to the contemplative books that are specifically meant for Lent, there are countless contemplative books that are not solely for Lent or may not even mention Lent but to which Lent-observing churches turn during Lent.
The ritualistic and liturgical nature of Lent observance has become a “perfect” fit for contemplative spirituality; in many cases (maybe most today), where you find Lent being observed, you will also find contemplative spirituality lurking in its shadows (or standing front and center).
Before entering into practices done at a church you may be attending, remember the Bible’s exhortations to seek out God’s truth:
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God. (1 John 4:1)
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:11)
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. (Matthew 24:4)
*Contemplative spirituality: A belief system that uses ancient mystical practices to induce altered states of consciousness (the silence) and is rooted in mysticism and the occult but often wrapped in Christian terminology. The premise of contemplative spirituality is interspiritual (all paths lead to God) and panentheistic (God is in all). Common terms used for this movement are “spiritual formation,” “the silence,” “the stillness,” “ancient-wisdom,” “spiritual disciplines,” and many others. During contemplative prayer, a word or phrase is repeated for several minutes (or the breath is focused on) with the intention of putting the mind into neutral and removing mental and other distractions. It is said that then one can hear the voice of God.
Related Articles:
Evangelicals are making [Catholic contemplative] liturgical traditions their own
(photo from bigstockphoto.com; use with permission)
Endnote:
Another sign of merging with the harlot church in these last days .1st tim 4-1.so many lost people without the real jesus of the bible.apostasy running rampant
For an example of Evangelical churches increasingly moving Romeward, look no further than Redwood Park Alliance in Thunder Bay, Ontario, where their Lenten practices include Ash Wednesday and Stations of the Cross: https://redwoodpark.ca/lent
Search https://redwoodpark.ca/blog for the last year or so, scroll down to “Prayers for the Body of Christ” in their Sunday recaps, and look how many of the churches mentioned are Roman Catholic and liberal of various stripes. Redwood Park Alliance has a female lead pastor, and half the elders are women.
Dear Tag,
We do have a link on this article to our recent report on Richard Rohr. Here it is again: https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/new-booklet-richard-rohr-a-catholic-new-age-priest-his-cosmic-christ-and-young-evangelicals/.
We are glad you mentioned non-dualistic thinking. Most people don’t wonder about that, but they should. It’s really the essence of the New Age (which started in the garden of Eden). Non-dualistic thinking puts everything on the same plane (good and bad, right and wrong, God and man). Ray Yungen explained: “Contrary to what the contemplatives teach, there is duality, and the Bible teaches it—there are the sheep and the goats, the wheat and the tares, the saved and the unsaved, and the righteous and the unrighteous. New Age thinkers would reject this because they believe all is God. In the contemplative camp, when Richard Rohr says everything belongs, this is what makes it New Age. The golden calf and Yahweh are not the same God. Simply put, everything does not belong!” Yungen says Satan is trying to eradicate the gap between good and evil, and man and God.
I wish there had been more to this article. Like delving into “non- dualistic” thinking ,promoted by the same crowd. The subtle nature of Rohr and his ilk should be fully exposed and clearly defined. The concepts in Rohr’s book “The Universal Christ” ,and just a casual reading of published ( digital) materials from his “Center for Action and Contemplation “ , should raise the trumpets of the watchmen on the walls ,swiftly to mouth that a sure tone may broadcast to Gods beloved.
In my humble opinion.
Maybe I write prematurely as I have not briefed any of your other materials. My wife just sent me this article.
I will sign up to receive your emails
“Lent” is kind of like looking for “lint” in one’s bellybutton… assigning works to a ritual, at a certain time of the year, linked with seeking and listening to lying spirits doesn’t fill one with the Holy Spirit.
Grace & Works https://hopeishereblog.wordpress.com/2025/02/12/grace-works/
I don’t do lent. Giving up foods, etc, for 40 days,,seems legalistic to me. I go to catholic fish fries, because I enjoy fish. I’m not catholic. When I’ve been in denominations that observed lent, I ignored the practice. It’s a tradition, not in the Scriptures. If others want to do so, that’s ok. Just not me.