One of the peculiar features of the Episcopal Church is its terminology. We talk about “narthexes” and “naves,” “Paschal candles” and “piscinas,” “chalices” and “chancels.” One of the least known features of the Anglican tradition is also one of its most unpronounceable: the Sundays that are sometimes called the “gesimas.”

Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima are the words historically used to refer to the third, second, and last Sundays before Ash Wednesday. They come from the Latin words for “seventieth,” “sixtieth,” and “fiftieth,” respectively. Why on earth would we name Sundays after these ordinal numbers?

We can think of these Sundays as being the beginning of the Church’s countdown to Easter. The numbers tell us that these Sundays are (roughly) seventy, sixty, and fifty days before Easter Day. They were traditionally called the “Pre-Lent” Sundays, and their readings and prayers were woven together with themes that helped prepare Christians for the coming season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

The number seventy is deeply biblical, and it connects this extended Lenten season with the time period of Israel’s exile in Babylon: approximately seventy years. In Babylon, Israel learned the true measure of its sin – its departure from God’s love. And precisely for that reason, it also learned the full depths of God’s grace and mercy. We pray for the same realization as we prepare to make our own Lenten journey.

But the most important thing about the season of the “gesimas” is that it helps us remember that the best way to “keep time” throughout our lives – through each day and throughout the year – is by reference to the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Easter is the still center at the heart of an ever changing world, the secure point of orientation to which we as Christians ought always return.

It’s easy to get caught up in the gears of the other calendars in our lives: deadlines at school or work; scary doctor’s appointments on the horizon; the vacation that just can’t get here soon enough. But for Christians, there is one calendar event that we can always anticipate with eager expectation. It is the one event that will never fail us, never disappoint us, and give us the only lasting satisfaction that will be ours forever. Easter will be here soon. The “gesimas” help us start to get ready.

God bless you!

Mac