Soma Austin Community Church

This Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten Season, which is the third season in the Christian Liturgical Calendar, followed by Advent and Ephiphany. Lent is a period of about 40 days that precedes Easter, commemorating three pillars of celebration. These three pillars are often referred to as 'justices' and are as follows: justice towards God through prayer, justice towards self through fasting, and justice towards neighbor, which is also referred to as almsgiving, or charitable giving.

While Lent is often thought of as Catholic Tradition, Protestant churches like the Episcopal and Methodist churches celebrate and honor this time as well. The question of how Lent originated is debatable between different scholars. Some think it was derived from a pagan holiday while others believe it came about through the merging of several smaller Christian celebrations. Others still believe it was birthed from a necessity because of a lack of food during this time, which was known as the 'hungry gap.' Nevertheless, followers of Jesus have been observing Lent for thousands of years through fasting, prayer and giving.

In the early custom of Lent, no animal products or alcohol would be consumed by anyone, and only a small meal would be eaten at sundown. This tended to vary, however, depending on what regions you were from. For example, some places would allow you to eat fish, and other areas would end the daily fast at 3pm.

Lent is a time rich in liturgy and tradition, as there many differnet days of observance; lent begins with Ash Wedesday and the fifth Sunday is called Passion Sunday. The sixth, and final Sunday is called Palm Sunday which is the beginning of Holy Week, that leads up to Easter. Other days included and recognized throughout Holy Week are Spy Wednesday, Maunday Thursday and Good Friday.

0 Comments | Login to Post Comments