Lent is a season of forty days, not counting Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. Lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word lencten, meaning “spring.” The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry.
Lent is a time of repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a time of self-examination and reflection. In the early church, Lent was a time to prepare new converts for baptism. Today, Christians focus on their relationship with God, often choosing to give up something or to volunteer and give of themselves for others.
Sundays in Lent are not counted in the forty days because each Sunday represents a “mini-Easter” and the reverent spirit of Lent is tempered with joyful anticipation of the Resurrection.
What Is Palm Sunday?
Palm Sunday kicks off holy week with our revisiting the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem that last week of his life. Things not go as the crowds had planned, nor how anyone imagined, save one – Jesus.
What Is Maundy Thursday?
Good Friday, we know. And Easter most certainly. But what is Maundy Thursday? Maundy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter, believed to be the day when Jesus celebrated his final Passover with His disciples. Most notably, that Passover meal was when Jesus washed the feet of His disciples in an extraordinary display of humility. He then commanded them to do the same for each other. Maundy meaning “mandate” reflects on one of Jesus’ parting commands to his disciples to love one another as he has loved them.
Join us as we reflect on Jesus’ parting actions and words shared with his disciples prior to his arrest and embrace our call to serve one another and to love one another as he has does for us.
What is Good Friday?
On Good Friday we remember the day Jesus willingly suffered and died by death on a cross as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins (1 John 1:10). You may be asking yourself, “Why do we call Good Friday “good”, when it is such a dark and bleak event commemorating a day of great suffering and death for Jesus?” We do so because it is a day that proclaims God’s purpose of loving and redeeming the world through the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is a day that is good because God was drawing the world to himself in Christ. In these final hours of Christ life upon the cross, God was not making the best of a bad situation, but working out God’s intention for the world – making the way of salvation possible for all people. We call it “good” because we look backward at the crucifixion through the lens of Easter!
Join us as we revisit Christ journey from the city to the hill upon which he was nailed to a cross and hung there to die. Experiencing his suffering on our behalf enhances our ability to embrace the joy and promise of Easter.
