The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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Parish News February 2007It hardly seems we have packed away the Christmas decorations than we are heading towards Easter. And when I was in one of the supermarkets the first week in January I noticed they are already selling Easter eggs. We spend a great deal of time in preparing for Christmas, and a day hardly goes by without someone reminding us how many days we have left. Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, begins our countdown to Easter. It reminds us of the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness being tested by Satan Lent is the period of six weeks leading up to Easter, the most important festival in the Christian calendar. It starts on Ash Wednesday and climaxes during Easter Week. It lasts a total of 40 days, not including Sundays. Lent started in the 4th Century: it was introduced to encourage a return to self-discipline. At that time, baptisms normally took place on Easter Day and members of the church would join those preparing for baptism by fasting for several weeks beforehand. Gradually Christians began to associate the fast with the 40 day period when Jesus went into the desert to fast and pray in preparation for his ministry. The day before Lent starts is Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day. Traditionally, Christians gave up meat, fat, eggs and dairy products for Lent. This was the last chance to use up some of these foods before Lent began. Festivities take place in many cities all over the world, including Mardi Gras in New Orleans (USA), Carnival in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Venice (Italy). People dress up, wear masks, parade and dance in the streets. On Ash Wednesday many churches hold services during which Christians are marked on the forehead with a cross of ashes as a sign of penitence and mortality. The ashes come from burning the palm crosses from Palm Sunday of the previous year. Lent is the churches time of preparation for Easter. Lent is a time of stripping down to essentials, as Christians focus on their relationship with God. It is a time when as Christians we 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. Judy To help us in our preparation we will be running a Lent course (see separate notice) to which anyone is welcome. |
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