Pre-Lent's Themes, Purpose, and Ceremonies

The liturgical preparation for Easter takes place through four distinct periods or steps: Pre-Lent, Lent, Passiontide, and Holy Week. The first is the Pre-Lent aslo known as the Gesimas. 

These three Sundays before Lent are thematic. They are mainly focused on the grace of God and examine that grace from three perspectives:

Septuagesima (meaning, for us, “about 70 days”)—Grace is undeserved.  The collect for this Sunday implores God to graciously hear us, who are justly punished for our sin, so that we may be delivered by His goodness.  The goodness of God is emphasized in the parable of the vineyard workers in the day’s Gospel, Matthew 20:1-16. All the laborers receive the reward because of the goodness of the landowner and not because of their own labor or merit.  We prepare for Easter by remembering that is good and Christ has borne the heat and burden of the day for us so that we might have that goodness for free.

Sexagesima (meaning , for us, “about 60 days”)—Grace is passively received. In the collect for this Sunday we pray that God would see that we put not our trust in anything that we do and that He would mercifully defend us by His power.  The parable of the sower is read as the Gospel from Luke 8:4-15. The seed of God’s Word is passively received. It transforms bad soil into good and noble hearts. We pray that this would happen this also to and for us.

Quinquagesima (meaning , for us, “about 50 days”) —Grace is not easily understood. On the Sunday before Ash Wednesday we hear in the Gospel, Luke 18:34, Jesus predict His passion, death, and resurrection. We also hear that the disciples “understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.” We pray then that God would be gracious and patient with us and grant faith and understanding to us despite our many sins.

(As noted in the original post, I’ve editted the material above in italics but it did not originate with me. Pastor Gregory Brown of Oklohoma has since informed me that it likelly came from Dennis Bratcher at http://www.crivoice.org/cyepiph.html but his site does not currently have a section on Pre-Lent. Another possible source was given by Pastor Zach Courie as coming from Pastor Todd Peperkorn http://www.historiclectionary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/GesimaInsert.pdf. Frankly, the Peperkorn reference seems mostly likely, but as I wrote originally I know I didn’t write it but don’t know where it came from.)

In some places one will read that the ceremonies of the Gesima Sundays are identical in every way to the first three Sundays of Lent/ Pre-Lent then essentially begins Lent two and half weeks before Ash Wednesday. The “Alleluias” and Greater Gloria are dropped and the color is violet.

In Service Book and Hymnal (1959), however, the rubric calls for green paraments. Redeemer in Fort Wayne has chosen to follow this and also to retain the more festive musical setting of Healy Wilan in order to make the transition into Lent more gradual and also to keep Lent proper distinct.

I would suggest for most parishes that even if they use violet paraments instead of green that they not begin special midweek services or start fasting until Ash Wednesday. Ideally, there will be some distinction between Pre-Lent and Lent.

In any case, Pre-Lent is meant to be a grace-focused season and provide a progression into the more intense ceremonies and denials of Lent and Passiontide. Beyond a doubt, textually these are some of the richest Sundays in the Church Year and those who enjoy them ought to feel some pity for our poor brothers who forego them in the liturgical poverty of the “Three Year Lectionary.”