From the Study...

Dear Friends,

It’s interesting how much some of the feasts and Holy days of our Christian traditions are tied to the movements of celestial bodies. The Bible has several references to them, perhaps the most significant of which is the star that guided the Magi to Bethlehem. The Holy season of Lent is all bound up in their movement as well. The Bible tells us that Jesus’ crucifixion was around the time of the Passover Feast, which begins on the night of the full moon after the spring equinox. Early Christianity established the date of Easter to be the Sunday following that first full moon of spring, unless that first full moon falls on a Sunday in which case Easter is the following Sunday. This may have been an effort to prevent Passover and Easter from falling on the same day. If you begin on the Saturday before Easter Sunday and back up 40 days, not including Sundays, you will arrive at Ash Wednesday. Sundays are left out of the count since each Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection. The forty days remind us of the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted, which the Church has traditionally observed with fasting and penitence. This year Easter falls on April 9, which is about mid-way between the earliest and latest possible dates of March 22 and April 25. Counting forty days back from April 9, excluding Sundays, places Ash Wednesday on February 22.

That day we will mark the beginning of our Lenten journeys with a service of the Imposition of Ashes. In this time of worship, after prayer and scripture, the people will come forward where the sign of the cross will be traced on their foreheads and they will hear the words, “Remember you are dust and to dust you will return.” The ashes are from the palm fronds that we waved in Palm Sunday worship last year, now burned and turned into ash to be used in this service of remembering the frailties of our humanity and our need for salvation through Christ. We then begin the solemn walk -through Lent, a season of discipline where the faithful give up something they really don’t need or take on something needed but long put off. All these forty days are to help us focus on Jesus’ sacrifices and temptation, and prepare for the glory of the resurrection at Easter.

Come and let’s make this journey together. Tuesday, February 21, we will again have the Shrove Tuesday pancake supper. That night we will throw dietary caution to the wind (pancakes, sausage, etc.) before beginning our disciplined walk-through Lent the next evening at Ash Wednesday worship. Then let’s take steps together toward the celebration of what began at Christmas … the miracle of eternal life in Christ at Easter.

Blessings,

Mike