Should Reformed Churches Observe Ash Wednesday and Lent?

Why would a Reformed church take up practices so closely associated with Roman Catholicism? That’s the honest—and loving—question a pastor friend asked me this past Lent. In this article, I share my response: a biblical, confessional, and pastoral case for why observing Ash Wednesday and Lent can be a faithful expression of Reformed wisdom—not a departure from it.

Earlier in March, I received an email from a Reformed pastor friend asking me why we were observing Ash Wednesday. He said he was saddened to hear that the Roman Lenten tradition was finding its way into our church. It was certainly a fair question, and definitely came in a spirit of love and a desire to dialogue. I thought I’d pass along some of the answers I gave to him.

One of the reasons my friend thought that Lent was contrary to Reformed confessions was that it went against the regulative principle (see WCF 21.1 below). The regulative principle basically says that we should not do anything in worship that is not explicitly commanded in Scripture. During the time of the Reformation, the regulative principle was one of the ways Protestants resisted the many traditions of men that the Roman Catholic church had accumulated over the centuries which caused it to deviate from the vision of worship given in the Scriptures. Protestants wanted to get back to the Bible and prioritize the things God himself had said were important.

Ash Wednesday and Lent are an invitation, just like other ministries we have that aren't explicitly commanded in Scripture.

But the Reformed tradition also recognizes there is a tension between the regulative principle and the fact that churches must order their worship practices by wisdom and the light of nature. Notice the tension in these two passages from the Westminster Confession of Faith:

WCF 1.6

"...and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and the government of the church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed."

WCF 21.1

"But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture."

The Reformers understood that the Bible never gives us a Christian liturgy, tells us what songs to sing, or what time the service should start. There are all kinds of details of Christian worship that we have to decide on by wisdom—such decisions do not negate the regulative principle.

For Reformed pastors who say that Lent is one of the “imaginations and devices of men,” such logic would also say a sermon series on a specific topic would be off limits because the Bible nowhere instructs us to focus for a season on a certain aspect of the Christian life. The practices we focus on in Ash Wednesday and Lent are all biblical—meditation on the cross of Christ, repentance, fasting, alms-giving, and grief over the effects of sin in our lives and the world. As to Ash Wednesday, repenting in dust and ashes is a practice mentioned many times in Scripture (e.g. Job 42:6, Jon. 3:6, 2 Sam. 13:19, Matt. 11:21). These practices are not the imaginations of men but are revealed in the Bible. But also, we never require or command our congregation to do them. Ash Wednesday and Lent are an invitation, just like other ministries we have that aren't explicitly commanded in Scripture (home groups, Discipleship Groups, Trinity Classical School, etc.). Many reformed churches also have midweek prayer services that are not commanded like Lord's Day worship is.

All of these ministries are ways that churches take the spiritual practices commanded in the Bible and organize them into people's lives. 

Throughout the history of Christ Church Bellingham, we have followed the church calendar in our preaching schedule and the let the story of the gospel shape the focus of the church in different seasons:

Fall + Advent: Old Testament (time before Christ)

Christmas to Easter: Gospel (time of the life of Christ)

Easter to Pentecost: Sermon Series

After Pentecost: New Testament Letters (time of the church after Pentecost)

We have always structured our year around the gospel as the church has done throughout history. I don’t see this in any way contradicting the Confession's instructions on worship, but as an application of biblical wisdom.

John Calvin's critiques of Romanish traditions of men were absolutely legitimate (my friend had sent me some quotes from him). But because of the many Roman excesses (and their works-righteousness theology, which we certainly reject), it seems the Reformed tradition often overreacted in rejecting historic church practices. I don't think churches have to do these things, but it is certainly within our rights to do so. In fact, many Reformed churches held on to church calendar practices like Christmas Eve, Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter. We have done these traditions for years without complaint. Why would Ash Wednesday and Lent be different?

Jon Brodhagen has written an excellent series on the church calendar that gives some historical background specifically to Lent. Hopefully that helps fill out my argument here. Ash Wednesday and Lent have proved a blessing to me personally, and I am excited to see more and more people in our church embracing the church calendar as a guide to their spiritual formation.