Dr. Donald Macleod, my homiletics and liturgy professor at Princeton, wrote the manual on worship for our franchise: Presbyterian Worship: Its Meaning and Method (1965). If you want to know why we do what we've done for so long when it comes to Sunday mornings, Dr. Macleod has the answers.

Here's what he said about Lent:

This season begins with Ash Wednesday and continues for 40 days and six Sundays prior to Easter Day. It is a period of discipline but not necessarily of a negative character. As someone has said, "Lent consists in doing something, not in merely doing without something." The genesis of Lent appears to have been associated with a period of discipline, reflection, and abstinence in imitation of Christ's self-denial and in preparation for the holy celebration of Easter ...

Ash Wednesday gets its name from Old Testament times when "sackcloth and ashes" were symbols of repentance ... Maundy Thursday takes in name from the new "man date" or "commandment. Jesus gave to His disciples to "love one another. and from the institution of the Last Supper to be done "in remembrance of me." ... The origin of the name "Good" Friday is obscure; some scholars conclude that it is a corruption of "God's" Friday. Lent ends officially at noon on Saturday ...

For Lent the liturgical color is violet, which symbolizes the mood of the season. On Good Friday in highly liturgical traditions the altar is stripped, candles are not lighted, and the cross is veiled in black.

It's a solemn, self-effacing, self-examining season.

Or at least that's the traditional observance.

Just as we've discounted the tithe to pacify weekend warriors, we've softened Lent over the years. Giving up chocolate or cigars or second helpings or something equally innocuous has become more fashionable than the ashes of repentance and cross of sacrifice these days. Indeed, too many folks are asking what God and His church can do for them instead of what they can do for God and others. I fear the missionary edge of the church is being blunted by navel-gazing ecclesiology. I fear the me generation has too much sympathy across the boards.

Of course, as I say all of this, a question keeps creeping into my conscience: "Is it I, Lord?"

Cyberspace recently brought this prayer to my attention:

So far today. God, I've done alright. Thank you for giving me the strength I needed. I haven't gossiped, haven't lost my temper, haven't been greedy, or grumpy, nasty or self-centered. But, in a few minutes, God, I'm going to get out of bed, and then I'm going to need a lot more help. Amen.

Is it I, Lord?

That's the question for Lent 1999.

That has been the question for Lent for the last 2000 years.

Most churches are beginning Lent at the table.

It's traditional.

It's also timely.

Is it only a memorial of what our Lord did for us?

Isn't it also a witness to what He's still doing for us?

Is it only a reminder of how our ancestors killed Him?

Isn't it also a reminder of how we're still killing Him?