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| Seasons & Festivals - Lent |
| The church exists first to offer worship (honour) to God and to thank him for the gifts he gives us, and secondly to honour and support each other because we're all fellow creatures of God, and so that honours him too.
Firstly: God deserves our worship because he's the supreme being who made us out of nothing in order to have a relationship with him. We destroy that relationship by our disobedience (sin), but God restores it again through the life and work of Jesus Christ. To help us to focus on God, the church divides the year into eight main Seasons, each with one or more Major Festivals. They remind us of the important times in the life and work of God and Jesus, and consequently have major significance for his followers and so are observed by most Christians. (Return to top)
Secondly: We honour each other because Jesus told us to - he taught us that we should care for each other as much as we care for our self, because in doing so we honour God who made us all. As well as the seasons and major festivals, therefore, the church celebrates several 'Special Days' throughout the year to remember, honour or support each other and our work in God's world. Celebration of the "Special Days" is usually optional, Christians chose which they want to remember. (Return to top) |
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| Lent | ||||||||
Lent reminds us of the fasting of Jesus in the wilderness (desert) before he began his ministry. At that time, Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights in personal reflection and prayer with God, working out who he was, what he had to do, and how he was going to do it. The season of Lent begins 46 days before Easter, copying Jesus' 40 days of fasting, but as that includes 6 Sundays - and Sundays are always 'feast' days - Lent has to begin 46 days before Easter to provide 40 days of fasting. (Return to Top) During his time in the wilderness, Jesus had little to eat and was tempted to do spectacular things, such as turning stones in the wilderness into bread to eat, and throwing himself off the top of a tall building and floating gently down, which would have drawn attention to himself. His objective in coming to earth in human form was to draw attention to God, to explain God's purposes, and especially to make amends for human sin by obeying God perfectly. He realised that if he did the things he was tempted to do then he would be playing into the hands of the devil who tempts all humans and would not be obeying God, so he wouldn't be perfect, which would prevent him from achieving his objective (Matthew, chapter 4). (Return to Top) |
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Austerity: It's usual to take out of the church all flowers and adornments. High churches (those that copy parts of Roman Catholic practice), also wrap any crosses and statues depicting Jesus with a purple shroud, in deference to a passage in John's Gospel, in which Jesus hid himself from the authorities (John, chapter 8, verse 59). (Return to Top) Self-reflection and fasting: This is similar to the self-reflection during Advent and is a time for bringing to mind one's failure to keep God's Laws and being sorry for it. Lent especially has an emphasis on being sorry (penance); that is, on bringing to mind and being sorry for the things we do wrong (sin). (Return to Top) Study: Many Christians attend a 'Lent Course' arranged locally or follow one of the many national courses that are published for that purpose, both as a penance (giving up time to study) and in order to learn more about God, about themselves, and about their faith, thereby copying Jesus' time of learning about himself and what God wanted for him. (Return to Top) Fasting: This refers to abstaining from both food and festivities. Years ago it was common to abstain from food in more rigorous ways than we do today. People would go without food all day and not eat various foods at all during Lent, such as meat, eggs and alcohol - a vegetarian diet during Lent was not uncommon. Today most people in the west have relaxed those rules, but many still give up something as a sign of penance, such as chocolate, smoking, or alcohol. Many also refrain from going to parties or meetings in order to be symbolically alone, as Jesus was in the wilderness. (Return to Top) |
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| Customs Associated with Lent Include: | ||||||||
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Many churches hold a special service on this day in which the foreheads of attendees are marked with ash in the shape of a cross as a sign of penance. The ash is usually made before the service by burning the palm crosses from the previous year (see Palm Sunday) and mixing them with a little of the oil usually used in baptism, in order to make a black paste. (Return to Top) |
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