With friends of the church calendar like this, who needs Presbyterian critics?

Craig Higgins, a PCA pastor in Westchester, NY, wrote over at PCA Conversations (how did we miss this?) a couple of posts about the value of observing Lent. In the first, he gave two main reasons. The second was that Lent is part of the traditional wisdom of the church, “a tradition the church has observed for centuries.” He adds, “we dishonor our spiritual ancestors when we casually disregard their wisdom.”

That raises an interesting question: were indulgences part of “the church’s” wisdom? How about monasticism, clerical celibacy, prayers to Mary? To paraphrase Alasdair McIntyre, just which church are we talking about, and whose wisdom? And what of the particular wisdom of the Presbyterians who repudiated the observance of the church calendar?  Are the Westminster Divines chopped liver?

Higgins’ other reason, his first, is that Lent is like Spring Training for baseball players. “Just as a baseball player may work at staying in shape year round but still give special attention to conditioning before the start of spring training, so we may find great spiritual benefits in setting aside a few weeks to give special attention to the state of our souls.”

Does this mean that coming out of Lent, just as pitchers are generally ahead of the hitters (you wouldn’t know this from following the 2009 Phillies), are some Christians more sanctified than others?

It is a curious defense of Lent, one that spawned surprisingly little conversation at a site dedicated to PCA Conversations.  It is also a post that would be a lot easier to take if sanctifying the Lord’s Day were as much a part of Reformed piety as Lent.  In fact, if Lent is useful, as Higgins argues, for taking stock of our lives, an annual “spiritual” exam, wouldn’t the practice of weekly ordering our lives to set aside Sunday for worship and rest be more effective (not to mention the sort of self-examination that goes with partaking of the Lord’s Supper, or the daily help of “improving our baptism”)?  Come to think of it, maybe Reformed piety does not need the lift of the church calendar, which was sort of the point in one of the Reformation’s many reforms.