February 2023
The Season of Lent
The first Festival Day celebrated by the first Christians was the Resurrection of Jesus. We call it a “Moveable Feast” because the date changes every year. Christmas, on the other hand, is a “Fixed Feast.” We always celebrate the Birth of Jesus on December 25, the only date Christians in the West – like us – have ever used. Christmas didn’t start to be a big deal until the Fourth Century.
Those Christians in the Apostolic Church (to 100 A.D.) saw each Sunday as a “mini celebration” of the Resurrection. It’s harder to grasp that understanding when you go to church on a different day from Sunday. At first Easter Sunday was known as “Pascha.” Later, we started to call it Easter, because of the Old English word “Eastrun,” their word for the fourth month on the calendar.
It’s okay that the word “Eastrun” was the name of a god. Now the word “Easter” means what it now means. The people who want to get rid of B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini – Year of Our Lord) should take a lesson from us as to what is important – or not. As time moved on, we added the other days of Holy Week: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday.
Beginning on Ash Wednesday, The Season of Lent developed as a time of preparation for the observance of Holy Week, ending with the celebration of Easter Sunday. Lent lasts for forty days, the amount of time Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted. Since He fasted then, people will often fast during Lent, or at least give something up remind be reminded of the suffering of Jesus.
I know what you just did. You did the maths and calculated that Lent lasts for longer than forty days. You have to take the Sundays out. Even during The Lenten Season Sunday is celebratory, observing the day of the week when Jesus rose from the dead! That’s why we could do Trivia, which is a lot of fun, even during Lent, because it’s on a Sunday. You should come to Trivia.
Many Lutheran churches, including ours, have a service on Wednesday evenings during The Season. Ours being at 7:00 and last no more than forty-five minutes. We do Vespers from LSB, and we’re going to try Evening Prayer and see how it goes. There are hymns and prayers, and the homilies (my word for a shorter sermon) will be from the Epistle lesson from the previous Sunday.
Often the Pastors of our Clinton Circuit exchange pulpits for the Midweek Services. This year, because of several circumstances, we will not be doing that. Maybe next year. We have in the past, but we currently don’t do a Saturday Easter Vigil. On Easter Sunday, Divine Sunrise Service is at 6:30, followed by a breakfast, then the Egg Hunt, then the Divine Service repeats at 9:00.
God bless you and yours during this most holy time of the year.
In Christian Service,
Pastor Anderson
