The Citizen, 2019-03-21, Page 16PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019.
From the Minister’s Study
Getting the Lenten facts and figures
By Rev. JoAnn Todd, Rector
Trinity and St. John’s Anglican
Churches
By the time you are reading this,
we will be well and truly into the
season of Lent. Lent consists of the
weeks of the church year that seems
to pass by many people unless you
go to church! And even then, not all
Christian denominations follow
Lenten practices.
I once had a pastor tell me “We
don’t do Lent in our church.” I
wonder if Lent’s not popular
because there’s no real sales angle
that can be picked up by the
retailers. Hallmark doesn’t make
“Happy Lent” cards; clothing made
from sack cloth and hair products
made with ashes (ancient traditional
garb worn during times of sorrow
and penitence) have yet to make
inroads with the clothing and
cosmetic companies!
There are folks who don’t even
know what Lent is anymore. I think
that’s a shame; a missed opportunity.
So, I thought this might be a good
chance to explain some basics about
the Season of Lent, a kind of
“Everything You Wanted to Know
About Lent, But Were Afraid to
Ask!” article.
Lent begins with Ash Wednesday,
about six weeks or so before
Easter – the day after you’ve eaten
all those pancakes on Pancake
Tuesday. For observant Christians,
Lent is the time of year for self-
reflection and prayer; a time to look
beyond our own physical desire and
wants, which we tend to default to in
our day-to-day lives, and instead see
to our spiritual needs, rather like a
personal spiritual spring cleaning.
It’s a good time to look beyond
ourselves and consider the needs of
others less fortunate than ourselves,
which is the origin of the idea of
giving to the poor (Lenten
almsgiving). One source I read said
Lent can be a time of stripping down
to the essentials; a time to think
about things, like what do we really
need? Hence the idea of fasting:
traditionally only one meal a day
and only basic foods. That’s where
the idea of Pancake Tuesday comes
from: it was a way for medieval
households to use up the foods in the
larder they considered extravagant,
like eggs, butter, cream and meats.
On Ash Wednesday, those who
wish to, can receive a cross of ashes
on their forehead.
So, why do we put these ashes,
this dust on our foreheads on Ash
Wednesday? Where did this strange
tradition come from and what does it
mean?
First of all, these ashes are a
reminder of who we are. In the
second creation story from Genesis,
the first living human, Adam in
Hebrew, is made from the dust, the
adamah of the ground. Adam comes
to life by virtue of God’s ruah – ruah
is Hebrew for God’s breath, God’s
spirit. Breath or spirit, the same
word means both.
What does this creation story tell
us? Without the spirit or breath of
God within us, then we are but the
dust of the ground.
Ashes are an ancient sign of
repentance, and of mourning. In
biblical times, people in mourning or
deep sadness, or those repenting or
asking for forgiveness, showed their
repentance by wearing ashes on their
heads and clothing made of
sackcloth instead of the clothing
they normally would use.
Lent represents the 40 days of
Jesus’ time of testing in the
wilderness, after his baptism; his
time of preparation before his
ministry to the people. Lent is a time
when we can symbolically join Jesus
on this 40 day journey, in effect
walking with Him. We are
encouraged to take this time for
reflection of our spiritual side, and
ask Jesus to come closer to us. We
can take this time to look within
ourselves for sin – sin being those
things that separate us from God,
preventing us from getting close to
God – and ask God for forgiveness
and for the strength to overcome
those weaknesses that keep us from
a close relationship with our Maker,
the one who breathes life, God’s
spirit into us – without whom we are
but dust. The cross is the sign of
Christ, a reminder of our baptismal
covenant when we are marked as
children of God, and Christ’s own.
In many churches, we mark Lent
by making some changes to the
service and the church itself: we
change the colour of the altar and
pulpit hangings to purple to remind
us that this is a special time in the
church year. We don’t traditionally
have flowers in church during Lent.
We make changes to the music and
the hymns, we simplify them using a
quieter more reflective tone and
theme, and don’t sing hymns with
‘Alleluia’ in them. We save up the
Alleluias until Easter! Some
churches will use this season to hold
Bible studies, or other faith
development learning opportunities.
All these things come together to
help remind us that we need to take
the time reflect on our lives as the
people of God, as followers of
Christ. Lent gives us that
opportunity: a time to consider our
shortcomings, our sins – those things
and behaviours that keep us from
being as fully in step with Christ as
we would like to be – as God would
like us to be.
It’s an opportunity to take the time
to walk closer with Jesus, a time to
focus deeper on our experience as
Christians, by studying scripture,
spending more time in prayer, and
asking our Lord’s forgiveness for
those things which we have done
and left undone.
Here’s a Lenten question and
answer for now:
Q: Where does the word “Lent”
come from?
A: The word Lent comes from old
high German, the word lenzin,
meaning springtime.
Q: Why is the colour purple
associated with Lent?
A: Purple is the colour of royality,
for Jesus who is Christ the King.
Over time, purple has also come to
symbolize fasting and penitence
(asking God for forgiveness). So in
many churches right now the
huronchapel.com huronchapelkids.com huronchapelyouth.com
519-526-1131 ~ 119 John’s Ave., Auburn
Sunday March 24
9:30 a.m. Sunday School, 10:30 a.m. Worship
MISSIONS SUNDAY
& Potluck
Ethnos Canada Exec. Dir. Tim Whatley
Romans 10:13ff “Together - Reaching the World”
Tuesdays 6:30 - 9 p.m. “Way of Jesus” training
Wednesdays 6:30-8:00 p.m. HEIRBORN (JK-Gr. 6);
6:30-8:30 p.m. Jr. & Sr. YOUTH (Gr. 7-12)
MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
SUNDAY, MARCH 24
Nursery care available
519-887-6687
Fridays 11:30 am - 1:00 pm ~ Soup & More 2
- a free community meal held in Melville’s basement, and
made possible by the Brussels churches working together.
Worship & Sunday School - 9:30 am (*New time)
Coffee & Snacks following the service
We invite you to join our church family in:
The Regional Ministry of Hope
BLYTH BRUSSELS
Trinity St. John’s
9:15 am 11:15 am
COME WORSHIP WITH US!
Rev. JoAnn Todd, Rector
519-357-7781
email: revjoann@hurontel.on.ca
TheRegionalMinistryof Hope
St. Paul’s Trinity
WINGHAM 11:15 am
These Anglican Churches
Welcome You
Hwy. 4, Blyth www.blythcrc.ca 519-523-4743
Minister: Pastor Gary van Leeuwen
BLYTH CHRISTIAN
REFORMED CHURCH
SUNDAYS
Morning Service 10:00 am
Evening Service 7:30 pm
You’re Invited To Join Us In Worship
THE CATHOLIC PARISHES OF NORTH HURON AND NORTH PERTH
CORDIALLY INVITE YOU TO ATTEND HOLY MASS.
OUR SUNDAY LITURGIES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
Brussels:
St. Ambrose
Saturday
6:00 p.m.
17 Flora Street
Wingham:
Sacred Heart
Sunday
9:00 a.m.
220 Carling Terrace
Listowel:
St. Joseph’s
Sunday
11:00 a.m.
1025 Wallace Avenue N.
OFFICE: 519-523-4224
Office Hours:
Tuesday & Thursday ~ 9:30 am - 2:00 pm
blythunited@tcc.on.ca
Special Speaker: Sandra Cable
Holy Communion
Accessible
Sunday, March 24
Worship Service at 11:00 am
Blyth United Church
Facebook: Blyth and Brussels United Churches
Youre Invited
to come worship
with us
Sunday, March 24
at 10:30 a.m. & 6:00 p.m.
650 Alexander St. (former Brussels Public School)
Sunday School for children
4 to 12 years of age at 9:30 a.m.
Childcare provided for infants and preschoolers
during the sermon.
Coffee & cookies after the morning service.
Wednesday Night Kids’ Club 6:45 pm - 8:15 pm (ages 5-12)
For additional details please contact Pastor Andrew Versteeg 519.887.8621
Steve Klumpenhower 519.292.0965 Rick Packer 519.527.0173
BRUSSELS
United Church
Worship and Sunday School
Communion Service
Sunday, March 24
at 9:30 am
Worship leader, Sandra Cable
All are Welcome
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