Early on in my clerical career I mistakingly referred to one of the Sundays in Lent as a Sunday of Lent. Someone corrected me but did not explain why I was wrong. It seemed so pedantic. After all, during Advent we refer to the Sundays as “The nth Sunday of Advent” and the same for Easter. In or of, what difference does it make?

To some degree it is pedantic but hidden inside the pedantry is a deep theological truth. It is a truth that is mostly lost to us.

The church has historically had designated Fast and Feast Days. Fast Days are days in which we abstain from something (traditionally food) while Feast Days are when we fully partake in the delights of the Lord. Lent is a collective time of fasting. It lasts the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter (the greatest Feast Day of the Christian Year). The Sundays that occur during Lent are in Lent. They happen in the midst of those 40 days, but they are not part of those 40 days.

Since the Old Testament God has commanded that one day in seven be taken as a sabbath. And the sabbath, as a day of rest, and pleasure in what God has given, is always a feast day. The sabbath is to be a glimpse of heaven, a time where we rest from our labor, worship God with his people, and to partake in the delights of the Lord.

So for the Sundays in Lent, partake in the delights of the Lord. Sundays whether in Lent or not, are supposed to be reminders that heaven is coming. So eat your chocolate, have a beer, grab a burger and fries, and remember that God loves you.