The Season of Lent
Lent is a forty-day season of preparation for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on
Easter Sunday. The season begins on Ash Wednesday, when pastors mark the foreheads of
Christians with ashes as a reminder that we are created from dust and to dust we shall return.
During Lent we follow Jesus from his adult ministry through his suffering during
Holy Week to his crucifixion and death on Good Friday. And we read the
Psalms that foretold what happened during that week.
Holy Week begins with
Palm Sunday, also called the Sunday of the Passion, and continues through Holy Thursday (when
Holy Communion was instituted at the Last Supper) and Good Friday, when
Jesus was tried, crucified, and buried.
Because the Last Supper was celebrated during the Feast of the Passover, which is calculated on the phases of the moon, Easter is called a movable feast. Lent is scheduled backwards from
Easter. Easter falls on the first Sunday after the full moon after the spring equinox. The forty days of fasting and penitence during Lent do not include Sundays. Christians always celebrate Sunday as the day Jesus rose from the dead, so it is never a day of fasting.
Many Northern Europeans celebrate the day before Ash Wednesday,
mardi gras (French for Fat Tuesday, also called Shrove Tuesday), by eating up everything good in the house that medieval Christians believed was inappropriate to eat during Lent (eggs, butter, cream, meat). This celebration has expanded into all sorts of festivals all over the world, although most modern Christians do eat some - or all - of those foods during Lent.
Lent is a time of stripping down to essentials, as each Christian focuses on his or her individual relationship with God. It is a time when Christians remember our
baptisms, when Jesus washed away our sins, giving us newness of life to celebrate in the triumph of
Palm Sunday and the glory of Easter. Many early Christians were baptized on Easter Sunday, so Lent became a special time of study and prayer in preparation for their baptisms. Later the entire congregation joined in the study and prayer as they looked forward to the anniversary of their baptisms on Easter.
Because Lent is a time of letting go of the
bondage of sin, it is also a time of celebrating the freedom from the bondage of slavery. At the Feast of the Passover, all Jews give thanks for their freedom from the captivity of the Egyptians.
We remember
Moses, their leader, as we perform
Out of Egypt.
This was the most "elementary" explanation of Lent that I could find. I found it on a Sunday School teachers web page! My family is obviously not Catholic but because of my sweet Mother in Law's influence, I began giving something up for Lent each year. Judson and the kids joined in over the past couple of years. Some years are bigger sacrifices than others. It is a tiny daily reminder of the awesome sacrifices He made for us. Hopefully these next 40 days will draw us all closer to Him.
This year we added a "new dimension" thanks to Kate Krull...we are all going to do a "good deed" each day as well, to sort of
have an offering to others.
Here is our "Family Lent List"...
Sacrifices (things we are giving up)
Judson- everything in the donut case at Naifeh's (donuts, cookies, cupcakes, etc)
Dana- bringing paperwork home with me every night and drinking no more than 5 diet cokes each day
Ally- honey buns
Abby- Mt Dew and Coke
Oney- Dr. Pepper and Coke
Anyone that knows us realizes that these are ALL huge sacrifices for ALL of us! Mine do not seem very big but, I bring home work EVERYDAY and I drink at least 12 diet cokes EVERYDAY!
Offerings (things we are going to do)
Judson- Being kind/patient to his and my parents
Dana- reading my Bible and a devotional daily and sending a card to someone each day
Ally- giving a compliment to someone every day
Abby- texting or calling her grandparents or someone special each day
Oney- remembering to say his prayers everyday
*****Note to anyone reading this post...according to my mother in law, we shouldn't "talk or boast" about what how we are celebrating Lent, rather simply and quietly "just do it"! I agree...I am blogging about this just so we can look back in a few years and see how things have changed!*****
