Probably the most eyebrow raising name for a date in the Church Calendar, Sexagesima is simply the Sunday 60ish days from Easter. As with last week, the calendar has been preparing us for Lent, which starts next Wednesday.

Lent, as I mentioned last time, is probably the season that engenders the most anxiety among modern Evangelicals. There are lots of reasons for this – ranging from a general scepticism towards the value of fasting just in general to concerns about Christian liberty. If I find time during Lent I might try to draw them together into a specific post or two.*

The collect for this week is short and sweet, and it knocks one of the most common objections I’ve heard to Lent squarely on the head.

O Lord God, who seest that we put not our trust in any thing that we do: Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Last week we saw that Lent is for repentant sinners asking for grace. This week, the collect rules out any notion that our works, even our works of repentance, might be the grounds for that grace. Lent is not about earning salvation in return for abstinence. It is not that we attempt to make it up to God for the sin we were confessing last week. We do not put our trust in anything that we do – least of all the absurd idea that 6 weeks of fasting and penitence could secure God’s favour towards us. Our need for grace is far greater than that.

As with last week, however, this is a mercy that we trust God to show towards us. As we approach a season where there is considerable focus on both our sin and our mortality, sexagesima reminds us that we do not take it upon ourselves to remedy the situation by means of our own efforts at self reform. Before Lent has even begun, we acknowledge that our hope lies in God’s power, moved by God’s mercy alone.

*If you’re reading this and you’re a friend of mine, please do get in touch if there’s a common objection to Lent you’d like me to write about.