LENT

Many people think of LENT as an utterly miserable time . Something we could well do without. ! NO sweets or chocolate ,-NO fun, -NO luxuries of any kind.  Normality finished on Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day).!

 Actually, the word LENT  itself has nothing whatever to do with  any of that.,-Not with fasting, not  with Jesus being tempted, nor with religion in any shape or form.

The word LENT  just means SPRINGTIME.,  Nothing more !.

 However, as a result of  a strange and completely arbitrary formula  which few of us understand , but which decides how Easter is fixed each year,- the period we call LENT has taken on a  religious significance for Christians. Ash Wednesday    begins the ‘count-down’ to Easter.  It is forty days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday,- provided , of course you don’t count the Sundays in-between.

And that’s the  period Christians refer to as LENT,  It reminds them of the forty days  Jesus spent  contemplating his enormous mission, as he was about to embark on his ministry. That forty-day period was a time of spiritual and mental , and indeed, physical turmoil for Jesus as he weighed up his options how to establish the Kingdom of God on earth.. And so, Christians take note, and many people observe  ‘Lent’ by making their own ‘sacrifices’ in commemoration.

But the important thing is,- it is a time of preparation  for Easter. It is a time for us to take a good hard look at ourselves,- a time to renew our promises. It is a time when we acknowledge that

Christ is alive ! His Spirit burns

Through this and every future age,

Till all creation lives and learns

His joy, His justice, love, and praise

    

                                      ( HP 190. Brian A. Wren)