Quotes & Sayings


We, and creation itself, actualize the possibilities of the God who sustains the world, towards becoming in the world in a fuller, more deeper way. - R.E. Slater

There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have [consequential effects upon] the world around us. - Process Metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead

Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem says (i) all closed systems are unprovable within themselves and, that (ii) all open systems are rightly understood as incomplete. - R.E. Slater

The most true thing about you is what God has said to you in Christ, "You are My Beloved." - Tripp Fuller

The God among us is the God who refuses to be God without us, so great is God's Love. - Tripp Fuller

According to some Christian outlooks we were made for another world. Perhaps, rather, we were made for this world to recreate, reclaim, redeem, and renew unto God's future aspiration by the power of His Spirit. - R.E. Slater

Our eschatological ethos is to love. To stand with those who are oppressed. To stand against those who are oppressing. It is that simple. Love is our only calling and Christian Hope. - R.E. Slater

Secularization theory has been massively falsified. We don't live in an age of secularity. We live in an age of explosive, pervasive religiosity... an age of religious pluralism. - Peter L. Berger

Exploring the edge of life and faith in a post-everything world. - Todd Littleton

I don't need another reason to believe, your love is all around for me to see. – Anon

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. - Khalil Gibran, Prayer XXIII

Be careful what you pretend to be. You become what you pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut

Religious beliefs, far from being primary, are often shaped and adjusted by our social goals. - Jim Forest

We become who we are by what we believe and can justify. - R.E. Slater

People, even more than things, need to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. – Anon

Certainly, God's love has made fools of us all. - R.E. Slater

An apocalyptic Christian faith doesn't wait for Jesus to come, but for Jesus to become in our midst. - R.E. Slater

Christian belief in God begins with the cross and resurrection of Jesus, not with rational apologetics. - Eberhard Jüngel, Jürgen Moltmann

Our knowledge of God is through the 'I-Thou' encounter, not in finding God at the end of a syllogism or argument. There is a grave danger in any Christian treatment of God as an object. The God of Jesus Christ and Scripture is irreducibly subject and never made as an object, a force, a power, or a principle that can be manipulated. - Emil Brunner

“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” means "I will be that who I have yet to become." - God (Ex 3.14) or, conversely, “I AM who I AM Becoming.”

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. - Thomas Merton

The church is God's world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the Eucharist/Communion table to share life with one another as a new kind of family. When this happens, we show to the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be. The church is God's show-and-tell for the world to see how God wants us to live as a blended, global, polypluralistic family united with one will, by one Lord, and baptized by one Spirit. – Anon

The cross that is planted at the heart of the history of the world cannot be uprooted. - Jacques Ellul

The Unity in whose loving presence the universe unfolds is inside each person as a call to welcome the stranger, protect animals and the earth, respect the dignity of each person, think new thoughts, and help bring about ecological civilizations. - John Cobb & Farhan A. Shah

If you board the wrong train it is of no use running along the corridors of the train in the other direction. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God's justice is restorative rather than punitive; His discipline is merciful rather than punishing; His power is made perfect in weakness; and His grace is sufficient for all. – Anon

Our little [biblical] systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O God art more than they. - Alfred Lord Tennyson

We can’t control God; God is uncontrollable. God can’t control us; God’s love is uncontrolling! - Thomas Jay Oord

Life in perspective but always in process... as we are relational beings in process to one another, so life events are in process in relation to each event... as God is to Self, is to world, is to us... like Father, like sons and daughters, like events... life in process yet always in perspective. - R.E. Slater

To promote societal transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework which includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. - The Earth Charter Mission Statement

Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles. - Scott Postma

It is never wise to have a self-appointed religious institution determine a nation's moral code. The opportunities for moral compromise and failure are high; the moral codes and creeds assuredly racist, discriminatory, or subjectively and religiously defined; and the pronouncement of inhumanitarian political objectives quite predictable. - R.E. Slater

God's love must both center and define the Christian faith and all religious or human faiths seeking human and ecological balance in worlds of subtraction, harm, tragedy, and evil. - R.E. Slater

In Whitehead’s process ontology, we can think of the experiential ground of reality as an eternal pulse whereby what is objectively public in one moment becomes subjectively prehended in the next, and whereby the subject that emerges from its feelings then perishes into public expression as an object (or “superject”) aiming for novelty. There is a rhythm of Being between object and subject, not an ontological division. This rhythm powers the creative growth of the universe from one occasion of experience to the next. This is the Whiteheadian mantra: “The many become one and are increased by one.” - Matthew Segall

Without Love there is no Truth. And True Truth is always Loving. There is no dichotomy between these terms but only seamless integration. This is the premier centering focus of a Processual Theology of Love. - R.E. Slater

-----

Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write from the comments I read). Instead, I'd like to see our community help one another and in the helping encourage and exhort each of us towards Christian love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. - re slater

Sunday, February 7, 2021

What To Do About Lent? Part 2/2











Introduction

Fat Tuesday has come and gone. Mardi Gras is done. Celebrations to fun, food, drink, and more are over. Saints and Sinners have had their day. Now comes 40 days of Lent.

Yes, the bipolarity does not make sense. It's not consistent. Why not be one way or the other? For some reason it can't be. It's how people have dramatized the Christian Church's teachings on Christ's mortal life and coming death.

But if I had to choose I'm the more concerned by Christians celebrating Lent. With Fat Tuesday many are not hiding who they are but with Lent, 40 days of contrition seems contrived, silly, and unequal to the tasks assigned to it by the Church.

As a Pauline Apostle kind-of-guy let me suggest a few things about Lent, bypassing Mardi Gras altogether, and see what you think. I neither wish to err to the side of gluttony and hedonism nor to the side of legalism and asceticism.

I do wish we would be ourselves in all things - free of guilty and sin, and just as free of self-righteousness and hypocrisy. The season of Lent is starts  today so I thought I should share what began this Christian tradition.

In Part One, I asked the question why observe Lent if it just ends up being another religious event having no meaning in our lives? Here, in Part Two, I'd like to go at it in another way.

How Did Lent Begin and Why?

Lent marks the time of Jesus' preparation for His unjust trial, crucifixion and murder upon a Roman cross of agony and ignominy at the hands of unrepentant, proud religious leaders. In preparation for His brutish, unjust death Jesus was led of God into the wilderness for 40 days where he was tried by the devil, by the lusts of the flesh, and desires of the world. Jesus' wilderness experience marked his final preparation for leaving His earthly ministries.

Ministries marked by mercy, grace, healing, and forgiveness, all but forgotten by the gatekeepers of Judaism's faith traditions. These were the religious priests, teachers, and leaders of what was left of Judaism's old cultural beliefs and rotting temple system. These same religious leaders were by now corrupt, darken in understanding, unjust, blind to God, and stiff necked to God's Spirit.

Israel's spiritual poverty lay at the hands of her unfaithful ministers of God. Ministers who bore ingracious hearts. Hearts likened by Jesus as wide open sepulchers of religious legalism and hypocrisy. These traditionalists of the Jewish faith were concerned for their religious laws but ironically, wholly unfamiliar with God's grace, having forgotten why the Hebraic faith started in the first place.

These were false teachers of the law whom Jesus judged and condemned unworthy of God, unloving in their religious duties, and foully lusting for money, privilege and power. By calling out their sins and evil, Jesus consequently died by their "ceremonially washed" hands, marking them as "hypocrites to the end." A blasphemy of the highest order against the Spirit of God. And though we understand Jesus' sacrifice as God's own atoning death for self-righteous mankind awash in its own sin and evil, it was also at this time Jewish followers of Jesus began a new fellowship known as Christ-followers we now know as the Church of the living God.

A Church In Crisis

The Church is an organic institution birthed in the blood of Christ which is as conflicted today as it ever has been. Led by its own blind and unjust leaders who by their very words and deeds deny their God of Love and Salvation. And the sad truth is, the congregations of the church have allowed themselves to listen to these false Christian teachers by supporting them every step of the way.

So my question, "What To Do About Lent?" Should it be observed so as to heap greater indignity upon the Lord God of Grace and Mercy? Of Forgiveness and Truth? By heaping sin upon sin till it fills the nostrils of the Lord with the unholy putridness of rotting flesh and faith?

Or, do we observe Lent as a holy practice and demonstration of Godly love to one another rather than the hypocritical practices of self denial by which it has become? Just reread the pictures above... "fasting, self-denial, prayer etc.... I submit, Christianity means nothing if it cannot act humanely and with love to humanity through its various forms of social justice and ecological repair.

For it is we, as followers of Christ, who are to be the first to practice love unto others by preparing ourselves to serve and heal humanity beyond our border walls of churchliness or saintliness. The folly of holy diets, abstinence, and other works of the flesh, are not what Lent is about... though many think it is. Rather, Lent is about committing body and soul to serve God by serving others in selfless sacrifices of goodness, love, and forgiveness. Lent is not me-ward, it is others-ward.

The Practices of Lent

By practicing the "Lental" graces of love even as Christ loved and served the sinner - which by this statement is meant both the holy and the unholy sinners of this world - we are showing to God that His wilderness preparation for atoning death was not for naught. By learning to love one's fellow man in truth and by practice will honor the God of love and forgiveness who will be pleased by our actions.

However, following the typical self-ward deeds and teachings of unholy religions and religious rites of the flesh, as is found in Lent or Easter, is not pleasing to God. Christianity was "built" by God for others-service, not self-service, and especially not for silly hypocrisies proclaiming one's worthiness to God by self-denial of foods and candy while the heart remains as black and unpenitant as before.

We have by our actions turned holy communions with the Lord of man and earth into unholy festivals of self-righteousness and religious vanities. It's what Israel's religious leaders had become and now, the Christian church has found itself living out the same error. A church which deigns to rebuke Jesus and re-crucify her Lord all over again.

My friends, be done with these follies of the flesh. Repent and love. Repent and serve. Repent and be humbled by the Spirit who rids pride and flesh of its many spiritual cankers and cancers. This is the true message of Lent.





Lent

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The liturgical colour of the season of Lent is purple. Many altar crosses and religious statuary are traditionally veiled during this period in the Christian year.

Lent (LatinQuadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the Christian liturgical calendar that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends approximately six weeks later, before Easter Sunday. The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer for Easter through prayer, doing penancemortifying the fleshrepentance of sins, almsgiving, and self-denial. This event is observed in the AnglicanEastern OrthodoxLutheranMethodistMoravianPresbyterianOriental OrthodoxReformed, and Roman Catholic Churches.[1][2][3] Some Anabaptist and evangelical churches also observe the Lenten season.[4][5]

The last week of Lent is Holy Week, starting with Palm Sunday. Following the New Testament story, Jesus' crucifixion is commemorated on Good Friday, and at the beginning of the next week the joyful celebration of Easter Sunday recalls the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In Lent, many Christians commit to fasting, as well as giving up certain luxuries in order to replicate the account of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ's journey into the desert for 40 days;[6][7][8] this is known as one's Lenten sacrifice.[9] Many Christians also add a Lenten spiritual discipline, such as reading a daily devotional or praying through a Lenten calendar, to draw themselves near to God.[10][11] The Stations of the Cross, a devotional commemoration of Christ's carrying the Cross and of his execution, are often observed. Many Roman Catholic and some Protestant churches remove flowers from their altars, while crucifixes, religious statues, and other elaborate religious symbols are often veiled in violet fabrics in solemn observance of the event. Throughout Christendom, some adherents mark the season with the traditional abstention from the consumption of meat, most notably among Lutherans, Roman Catholics and Anglicans.[12][13][14]

Lent is traditionally described as lasting for 40 days, in commemoration of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert, according to the Gospels of MatthewMark and Luke, before beginning his public ministry, during which he endured temptation by Satan.[15][16] Depending on the Christian denomination and local custom, Lent ends either on the evening of Maundy Thursday,[17] or at sundown on Holy Saturday, when the Easter Vigil is celebrated.[18] Regardless, Lenten practices are properly maintained until the evening of Holy Saturday.[19]

Etymology

Lent celebrants carrying out a street procession during Holy Week, in Granada, Nicaragua. The violet color is often associated with penance and detachment. Similar Christian penitential practice is seen in other Christian countries, sometimes associated with fasting.[20]

The English word Lent is a shortened form of the Old English word lencten, meaning "spring season", as its Dutch language cognate lente (Old Dutch lentin)[21] still does today. A dated term in GermanLenz (Old High German lenzo), is also related. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, 'the shorter form (? Old Germanic type *laŋgito- , *laŋgiton-) seems to be a derivative of *laŋgo- long ... and may possibly have reference to the lengthening of the days as characterizing the season of spring'. The origin of the -en element is less clear: it may simply be a suffix, or lencten may originally have been a compound of *laŋgo- 'long' and an otherwise little-attested word *-tino, meaning 'day'.[22]

In languages spoken where Christianity was earlier established, such as Greek and Latin, the term signifies the period dating from the 40th day before Easter. In modern Greek the term is Σαρακοστή (Sarakostí), derived from the earlier Τεσσαρακοστή (Tessarakostí), meaning "fortieth". The corresponding word in Latinquadragesima ("fortieth"), is the origin of the terms used in Latin-derived languages and in some others. Examples in the Romance language group are: Catalan quaresmaFrench carêmeGalician coresmaItalian quaresimaOccitan quaresmaPortuguese quaresmaRomanian păresimiSardinian caresimaSpanish cuaresma, and Walloon cwareme. Examples in non-Latin-based languages are: Albanian kreshmaBasque garizumaCroatian korizmaIrish carghasSwahili kwaresimaTagalog kuwaresma, and Welsh c(a)rawys.

In other languages, the name used refers to the activity associated with the season. Thus it is called "fasting period" in Czech (postní doba), German (Fastenzeit), and Norwegian (fasten/fastetid), and it is called "great fast" in Arabic (الصوم الكبير – al-ṣawm al-kabīr, literally, "the Great Fast"), Polish (wielki post), Russian (великий пост – vieliki post), and Ukrainian (великий піст – velyky pist). Romanian, apart from a version based on the Latin term referring to the 40 days (see above), also has a "great fast" version: postul mareDutch has three options, one of which means fasting period, and the other two referring to the 40-day period indicated in the Latin term: vastentijdveertigdagentijd and quadragesima, respectively.

Origin

Despite the existence of many fasting traditions before spring festivals, such as Easter, the origin of Lent is not certain. There are three prevailing theories: One, that it was created at the Council of Nicea in 325 and there is no earlier incarnation. Two, that it is based on an Egyptian post-theophany fast. Three, a combination of origins syncretized around the Council of Nicea.[23]

Various Christian denominations calculate the 40 days of Lent differently. The way they observe Lent also differs.
Some named days and day ranges around Lent and Easter in Western Christianity, with the fasting days of Lent numbered

Roman Catholicism

In the Roman Rite since 1970, Lent starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday Evening (before the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper). This comprises a period of 44 days. The Lenten fast excludes Sundays and continues through Good Friday and Holy Saturday, totalling 40 days.[24][25]

In the Ambrosian Rite, Lent begins on the Sunday that follows what is celebrated as Ash Wednesday in the rest of the Latin Catholic Church, and ends as in the Roman Rite, thus being of 40 days, counting the Sundays but not Holy Thursday. The day for beginning the Lenten fast is the following Monday, the first weekday in Lent. The special Ash Wednesday fast is transferred to the first Friday of the Ambrosian Lent. Until this rite was revised by Saint Charles Borromeo the liturgy of the First Sunday of Lent was festive, celebrated in white vestments with chanting of the Gloria in Excelsis and Alleluia, in line with the recommendation in Matthew 6:16, "When you fast, do not look gloomy".[26][27][28]

During Lent, the Church discourages marriages, but couples may do so if they forgo the special blessings of the Nuptial Mass and reduced social celebrations.[29]

The period of Lent observed in the Eastern Catholic Churches corresponds to that in other churches of Eastern Christianity that have similar traditions.

Protestantism and Western Orthodoxy

In Protestant and Western Orthodox Churches, the season of Lent lasts from Ash Wednesday to the evening of Holy Saturday.[19][30] This calculation makes Lent last 46 days if the 6 Sundays are included, but only 40 days if they are excluded.[31] This definition is still that of the Anglican Church,[32] Lutheran Church,[33] Methodist Church,[18] and Western Rite Orthodox Church.[34]

Eastern Orthodoxy and Byzantine Rite

In the Byzantine Rite, i.e., the Eastern Orthodox Great Lent (Greek: Μεγάλη Τεσσαρακοστή or Μεγάλη Νηστεία, meaning "Great 40 Days" and "Great Fast" respectively) is the most important fasting season in the church year.[35]

The 40 days of Great Lent includes Sundays, and begins on Clean Monday and are immediately followed by what are considered distinct periods of fasting, Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, which in turn are followed straightway by Holy Week. Great Lent is broken only after the Paschal (Easter) Divine Liturgy.

The Eastern Orthodox Church maintains the traditional Church's teaching on fasting. The rules for lenten fasting are the monastic rules. Fasting in the Orthodox Church is more than simply abstaining from certain foods. During the Great Lent Orthodox Faithful intensify their prayers and spiritual exercises, go to church services more often, study the Scriptures and the works of the Church Fathers in depth, limit their entertainment and spendings and focus on charity and good works.

Oriental Orthodoxy

Among the Oriental Orthodox, there are various local traditions regarding Lent. Those using the Alexandrian Ritei.e., the Coptic OrthodoxCoptic CatholicEthiopian OrthodoxEthiopian CatholicEritrean Orthodox, and Eritrean Catholic Churches, observe eight weeks of Lent.

In Ethiopian Orthodoxy, fasting (tsome) lasts for 55 continuous days before Easter (Fasika), although the fast is divided into three separate periods: Tsome Hirkal, eight days commemorating an early Christian figure; Tsome Arba, 40 days of Lent; and Tsome Himamat, seven days commemorating Holy Week.[36][37][38] Fasting involves abstention from animal products (meat, dairy, and eggs), and refraining from eating or drinking before 3:00 pm.[36] Ethiopian devotees may also abstain from sexual activity and the consumption of alcohol.[36]

As in the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the date of Easter is reckoned according to the Julian Calendar, and usually occurs later than Easter according to Gregorian Calendar used by Catholic and Protestant Churches.

Other related fasting periods

The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, most notably by the public imposition of ashes. In this photograph, a woman receives a cross of ashes on Ash Wednesday outside an Anglican church.
A Lutheran pastor distributes ashes during the Divine Service on Ash Wednesday.

The number 40 has many Biblical references:

  • Moses spent 40 days on Mount Sinai with God (Exodus 24:18)
  • Elijah spent 40 days and nights walking to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8)
  • God sent 40 days and nights of rain in the great flood of Noah (Genesis 7:4)
  • The Hebrew people wandered 40 years in the desert while traveling to the Promised Land (Numbers 14:33)
  • Jonah's prophecy of judgment gave 40 days to the city of Nineveh in which to repent or be destroyed (Jonah 3:4).
  • Jesus retreated into the wilderness, where He fasted for 40 days, and was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1–2Mark 1:12–13Luke 4:1–2). He overcame all three of Satan's temptations by citing scripture to the devil, at which point the devil left him, angels ministered to Jesus, and He began His ministry. Jesus further said that His disciples should fast "when the bridegroom shall be taken from them" (Matthew 9:15), a reference to his Passion.
  • Since, presumably, the Apostles fasted as they mourned the death of Jesus, Christians have traditionally fasted during the annual commemoration of his burial.
  • It is the traditional belief that Jesus lay for 40 hours in the tomb,[27] which led to the 40 hours of total fasting that preceded the Easter celebration in the early Church[39] (the biblical reference to 'three days in the tomb' is understood by them as spanning three days, from Friday afternoon to early Sunday morning, rather than three 24-hour periods of time). Some Christian denominations, such as The Way International and Logos Apostolic Church of God,[40] as well as Anglican scholar E. W. Bullinger in The Companion Bible, believe Christ was in the grave for a total of 72 hours, reflecting the type of Jonah in the belly of the whale.[41]

One of the most important ceremonies at Easter is the baptism of the initiates on Easter Eve. The fast was initially undertaken by the catechumens to prepare them for the reception of this sacrament. Later, the period of fasting from Good Friday until Easter Day was extended to six days, to correspond with the six weeks of training necessary to give the final instruction to those converts who were to be baptized.[citation needed]

Converts to Christianity followed a strict catechumenate or period of instruction and discipline prior to receiving the sacrament of baptism, sometimes lasting up to three years.[42] In Jerusalem near the close of the fourth century, classes were held throughout Lent for three hours each day. With the legalization of Christianity (by the Edict of Milan) and its later imposition as the state religion of the Roman Empire, its character was endangered by the great influx of new members. In response, the Lenten fast and practices of self-renunciation were required annually of all Christians, both to show solidarity with the catechumens, and for their own spiritual benefit.[citation needed]

Associated customs

Statues and icons veiled in violet shrouds for Passiontide in St Pancras Church, Ipswich, England

There are traditionally 40 days in Lent; these are marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance. The three traditional practices to be taken up with renewed vigour during Lent are prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and almsgiving (justice towards neighbours).

However, in modern times, observers give up partaking in vices and often invest the time or money saved in charitable purposes or organizations.[43]

In addition, some believers add a regular spiritual discipline, to bring them closer to God, such as reading a Lenten daily devotional.[10] Another practice commonly added is the singing of the Stabat Mater hymn in designated groups. Among Filipino Catholics, the recitation of the epic of Christ' passion, called Pasiong Mahal, is also observed. In some Christian countries, grand religious processions and cultural customs are observed, and the faithful attempt to visit seven churches during Holy Week to pray the Stations of the Cross and pray at each church's Altar of Repose.[citation needed]

In many liturgical Christian denominationsGood FridayHoly Saturday, and Easter Sunday form the Easter Triduum.[44] Lent is a season of grief that necessarily ends with a great celebration of Easter. Thus, it is known in Eastern Orthodox circles as the season of "Bright Sadness". It is a season of sorrowful reflection which is punctuated by breaks in the fast on Sundays.[citation needed]

In cultivation of vegetables in a temperate oceanic climate in the northern hemisphere, Lent corresponds partly with the hungry gap.

Omission of Gloria and Alleluia

The Gloria in excelsis Deo, which is usually said or sung on Sundays at Mass (or Communion) of the Roman and Anglican rites, is omitted on the Sundays of Lent, but continues in use on solemnities and feasts and on special celebrations of a more solemn kind.[45] Some mass compositions were written especially for Lent, such as Michael Haydn's Missa tempore Quadragesimae, without Gloria, in D minor, and for modest forces, only choir and organ. The Gloria is used on Maundy Thursday, to the accompaniment of bells, which then fall silent until the Gloria in excelsis of the Easter Vigil.[46]

The Lutheran Divine Service, the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, the Anglican Churches, and the Presbyterian service of worship associate the Alleluia with joy and omit it entirely throughout Lent,[47][48] not only at Mass but also in the canonical hours and outside the liturgy. The word "Alleluia" at the beginning and end of the Acclamation Before the Gospel at Mass is replaced by another phrase.

Before 1970, the omission began with Septuagesima, and the whole Acclamation was omitted and was replaced by a Tract; and in the Liturgy of the Hours the word "Alleluia", normally added to the Gloria Patri at the beginning of each Hour – now simply omitted during Lent – was replaced by the phrase Laus tibi, Domine, rex aeternae gloriae (Praise to you, O Lord, king of eternal glory).

Until the Ambrosian Rite was revised by Saint Charles Borromeo the liturgy of the First Sunday of Lent was festive, celebrated with chanting of the Gloria and Alleluia, in line with the recommendation in Matthew 6:16, "When you fast, do not look gloomy".[26][27][28]

In the Byzantine Rite, the Gloria (Great Doxology) continues to be used in its normal place in the Matins service, and the Alleluia appears all the more frequently, replacing "God is the Lord" at Matins.

Veiling of religious images

A United Methodist minister prostrates at the start of the Good Friday liturgy at Holy Family Church, in accordance with the rubrics in the Book of Worship. The processional cross is veiled in black, the liturgical colour associated with Good Friday in Methodist Churches.
crucifix on the high altar is veiled for Lent. Saint Martin's parish, Württemberg, Germany

In certain pious Christian states, in which liturgical forms of Christianity predominate, religious objects were traditionally veiled for the entire 40 days of Lent. Though perhaps uncommon in the United States of America, this pious practice is consistently observed in Goa, Malta, Peru, the Philippines (the latter only for the entire duration of Holy Week, with the exception of processional images), and in the Spanish cities: BarcelonaMálaga, and Seville. In Ireland, before Vatican II, when impoverished rural Catholic convents and parishes could not afford purple fabrics, they resorted to either removing the statues altogether or, if too heavy or bothersome, turned the statues to face the wall. As is popular custom, the 14 Stations of the Cross plaques on the walls are not veiled.

Crosses were often adorned with jewels and gemstones, the form referred to as Crux Gemmata. To keep the faithful from adoring the crucifixes elaborated with ornamentation, veiling it in royal purple fabrics came into place. The violet colour later evolved as a color of penance and mourning.

Further liturgical changes in modernity reduced such observances to the last week of Passiontide. In parishes that could afford only small quantities of violet fabrics, only the heads of the statues were veiled. If no violet fabrics could be afforded at all, then the religious statues and images were turned around facing the wall. Flowers were always removed as a sign of solemn mourning.

In the pre-1992 Methodist liturgy and pre-1970 forms of the Roman Rite, the last two weeks of Lent are known as Passiontide, a period beginning on the Fifth Sunday in Lent, which in the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal is called the First Sunday in Passiontide and in earlier editions Passion Sunday. All statues (and in England paintings as well) in the church were traditionally veiled in violet. This was seen as in keeping with the Gospel of that Sunday (John 8:46–59), in which Jesus "hid himself" from the people.

Within many churches in the United States of America, after the Second Vatican Council, the need to veil statues or crosses became increasingly irrelevant and was deemed unnecessary by some diocesan bishops. As a result, the veils were removed at the singing of the Gloria in Excelsis Deo during the Easter Vigil. In 1970, the name "Passiontide" was dropped, although the last two weeks are markedly different from the rest of the season, and continuance of the tradition of veiling images is left to the discretion of a country's conference of bishops or even to individual parishes as pastors may wish.

On Good Friday, the Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist churches traditionally veiled "all pictures, statutes, and the cross are covered in mourning black", while "the chancel and altar coverings are replaced with black, and altar candles are extinguished". The fabrics are then "replaced with white on sunrise on Easter Sunday".[49]

Pre-Lenten festivals

The carnival celebrations which in many cultures traditionally precede Lent are seen as a last opportunity for excess before Lent begins. Some of the most famous are the Carnival of Barranquilla, the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the Carnival of VeniceCologne Carnival, the New Orleans Mardi Gras, the Rio de Janeiro carnival, and the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival.

The day immediately preceding Lent is variously called Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday"), Pancake Tuesday, or Shrove Tuesday. Sometimes, it is the peak of the pre-Lenten festival, while sometimes it is largely occupied with preparations for Lent. The observances vary from culture to culture, and even from town to town.

Originally, in Lebanon and Syria, the last Thursday preceding Lent was called "Khamis el zakara". For Catholics, it was meant to be a day of remembrance of the dead ones. However, zakara (which means "remembrance", in Arabic) was gradually replaced by sakara (meaning "getting drunk" in Arabic), and so the occasion came to be known as Khamis el sakara, wherein celebrants indulge themselves with alcoholic beverages.

Fasting and abstinence

Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness (Jésus tenté dans le désert)James TissotBrooklyn Museum

Fasting during Lent was more prominent in ancient times than today. Socrates Scholasticus reports that in some places, all animal products were strictly forbidden, while various others permitted fish, or fish and fowl, others prohibited fruit and eggs, and still others permitted only bread. In many places, the observant abstained from food for a whole day until the evening, and at sunset, Western Christians traditionally broke the Lenten fast, which was often known as the Black Fast.[50][51] In India and Pakistan, many Christians continue this practice of fasting until sunset on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, with some fasting in this manner throughout the whole season of Lent.[52]

For Catholics before 1966, the theoretical obligation of the penitential fast throughout Lent except on Sundays was to take only one full meal a day. In addition, a smaller meal, called a collation, was allowed in the evening, and a cup of some beverage, accompanied by a little bread, in the morning. In practice, this obligation, which was a matter of custom rather than of written law, was not observed strictly.[53] The 1917 Code of Canon Law allowed the full meal on a fasting day to be taken at any hour and to be supplemented by two collations, with the quantity and the quality of the food to be determined by local custom. Abstinence from meat was to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on Fridays and Saturdays in Lent. The Lenten fast ended on Holy Saturday at noon. Only those aged 21 to 59 were obliged to fast. As with all ecclesiastical laws, particular difficulties, such as strenuous work or illness, excused one from observance, and a dispensation from the law could be granted by a bishop or parish priest.[54] A rule of thumb is that the two collations should not add up to the equivalent of another full meal. Rather portions were to be: "sufficient to sustain strength, but not sufficient to satisfy hunger".[55]

In 1966, Pope Paul VI reduced the obligatory fasting days to Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, abstinence days to Fridays and Ash Wednesday, and allowed episcopal conferences to replace abstinence and fasting with other forms of penitence such charity and piety, as declared and established in his apostolic constitution Paenitemini. This was done so that those in countries where the standard of living is lower can replace fasting with prayer, but "...where economic well-being is greater, so much more will the witness of asceticism have to be given..."[56] This was made part of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which made obligatory fasting for those aged between 18 and 59, and abstinence for those aged 14 and upward.[57] The Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference decided to allow other forms of Friday penance to replace that of abstinence from meat, whether in Lent or outside Lent, suggesting alternatives such as abstaining from some other food, or from alcohol or smoking; making a special effort at participating in family prayer or in Mass; making the Stations of the Cross; or helping the poor, sick, old, or lonely.[58] The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales made a similar ruling in 1985[59] but decided in 2011 to restore the traditional year-round Friday abstinence from meat.[60] The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has maintained the rule of abstention from meat on Friday only during Lent and considers poultry to be a type of meat but not fish or shellfish.[61][62]

Many ELCA Lutheran Churches advocate fasting during designated times such as Lent,[8][63] especially on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.[64][8][65][66] A Handbook for the Discipline of Lent delineates the following Lutheran fasting guidelines:[12]

  1. Fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday with only one simple meal during the day, usually without meat.
  2. Refrain from eating meat (bloody foods) on all Fridays in Lent, substituting fish for example.
  3. Eliminate a food or food group for the entire season. Especially consider saving rich and fatty foods for Easter.
  4. Consider not eating before receiving Communion in Lent.
  5. Abstain from or limit a favorite activity (television, movies etc.) for the entire season, and spend more time in prayer, Bible study, and reading devotional material.
  6. Don't just give up something that you have to give up for your doctor or diet anyway. Make your fast a voluntary self-denial (i.e. discipline) that you offer to God in prayer.[12]

However, Martin Luther criticized the Roman Catholic church of his era for creating new and stricter fasts over the preceding centuries.[67] Not all Lutherans fast during lent, and churches which hold midweek services often hold dinners associated with the service.[68]

The historic Methodist homilies regarding the Sermon on the Mount stress the importance of the Lenten fast, which begins on Ash Wednesday.[69] The United Methodist Church therefore states that:

There is a strong biblical base for fasting, particularly during the 40 days of Lent leading to the celebration of Easter. Jesus, as part of his spiritual preparation, went into the wilderness and fasted 40 days and 40 nights, according to the Gospels.[70]

Good Friday, which is towards the end of the Lenten season, is traditionally an important day of communal fasting for Methodists.[71] Rev. Jacqui King, the minister of Nu Faith Community United Methodist Church in Houston explained the philosophy of fasting during Lent as "I'm not skipping a meal because in place of that meal I'm actually dining with God".[72]

Many of the Churches in the Reformed tradition retained the Lenten fast in its entirety.[7] The Reformed Church in America describes the first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday, as a day "focused on prayer, fasting, and repentance" and considers fasting a focus of the whole Lenten season,[73] as demonstrated in the "Invitation to Observe a Lenten Discipline", found in the Reformed liturgy for the Ash Wednesday service, which is read by the presider:[74]

We begin this holy season by acknowledging our need for repentance and our need for the love and forgiveness shown to us in Jesus Christ. I invite you, therefore, in the name of Christ, to observe a Holy Lent, by self-examination and penitence, by prayer and fasting, by practicing works of love, and by reading and reflecting on God's Holy Word.[74]

Good Friday, which is towards the end of the Lenten season, is traditionally an important day of communal fasting for adherents of the Reformed faith.[71]

During the early Middle Ages, eggs, dairy products, and meat were generally forbidden. In favour of the traditional practice, observed both in East and West, Thomas Aquinas argued that "they afford greater pleasure as food [than fish], and greater nourishment to the human body, so that from their consumption there results a greater surplus available for seminal matter, which when abundant becomes a great incentive to lust."[75] Aquinas also authorized the consumption of candy during Lent, because "sugared spices" (such as comfits) were, in his opinion, digestive aids on par with medicine rather than food.[76]

Jousting against Carnival is represented by a fat man on a beer barrel who wears a huge meat pie as headdress; Lent is represented by a thin gaunt woman on a cart (shown here) bearing Lenten fare: mussels, pretzels, and waffles. Oil painting The Fight Between Carnival and Lent by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (circa 1558–1559).

In Spain, the bull of the Holy Crusade (renewed periodically after 1492) allowed the consumption of dairy products[77] and eggs during Lent in exchange for a contribution to the cause of the crusade.

Giraldus Cambrensis, in his Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales, reports that "in Germany and the arctic regions", "great and religious persons" eat the tail of beavers as "fish" because of its superficial resemblance to "both the taste and colour of fish". The animal was very abundant in Wales at the time.[78]

In current Western societies the practice is considerably relaxed, though in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches, abstinence from all animal products including eggs, fish, fowl, and milk sourced from animals (e.g., cows and goats, as opposed to the milk of coconuts and soy beans) is still commonly practiced, so that, where this is observed, only vegetarian (or vegan) meals are consumed for the whole of Lent, 48 days in the Byzantine Rite. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church’s practices require a fasting period that is a great deal longer and there is some dispute over whether fish consumption is permissible.

In the tradition of the Western Catholic Church, abstinence from eating some form of food (generally meat, but not dairy or fish products) is distinguished from fasting. In principle, abstinence is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on every Friday of the year that is not a solemnity (a liturgical feast day of the highest rank); but in each country the episcopal conference can determine the form it is to take, perhaps replacing abstinence with other forms of penance.[57][79][80]

Even during Lent, the rule about solemnities holds, so that the obligation of Friday abstinence does not apply on 19 and 25 March when, as usually happens, the solemnities of Saint Joseph and the Annunciation are celebrated on those dates. The same applies to Saint Patrick's Day, which is a solemnity in the whole of Ireland as well as in dioceses that have Saint Patrick as principal patron saint. In some other places, too, where there are strong Irish traditions within the Catholic community, a dispensation is granted for that day.[81] In Hong Kong, where Ash Wednesday often coincides with Chinese New Year celebrations, a dispensation is then granted from the laws of fast and abstinence, and the faithful are exhorted to use some other form of penance.[82]

After the Protestant Reformation, in the Lutheran Church, "Church orders of the 16th century retained the observation of the Lenten fast, and Lutherans have observed this season with a serene, earnest attitude."[2] In the Anglican Churches, the Traditional Saint Augustine's Prayer Book: A Book of Devotion for Members of the Anglican Communion, a companion to the Book of Common Prayer, states that fasting is "usually meaning not more than a light breakfast, one full meal, and one half meal, on the forty days of Lent".[13] It further states that "the major Fast Days of Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, as the American Prayer-Book indicates, are stricter in obligation, though not in observance, than the other Fast Days, and therefore should not be neglected except in cases of serious illness or other necessity of an absolute character."[83]

In many Christian countriesreligious processions during the season of Lent are often accompanied by a military escort both for security and parade. Ceuta, Spain

Traditionally, on Sunday, and during the hours before sunrise and after sunset, some Churches, such as Episcopalians, allow "breaks" in their Lent promises. For Roman Catholics, the Lenten penitential season ends after the Easter Vigil Mass. Orthodox Christians also break their fast after the Paschal Vigil, a service which starts around 11:00 pm on Holy Saturday, and which includes the Paschal celebration of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. At the end of the service, the priest blesses cheese, eggs, flesh meats, and other items that the faithful have been abstaining from for the duration of Great Lent.

Lenten traditions and liturgical practices are less common, less binding, and sometimes non-existent among some liberal and progressive Christians.[84] A greater emphasis on anticipation of Easter Sunday is often encouraged more than the penitence of Lent or Holy Week.[85]

Some Christians as well as secular groups also interpret the Lenten fast in a positive tone, not as renunciation but as contributing to causes such as environmental stewardship and improvement of health.[86][87] Even some atheists find value in the Christian tradition and observe Lent.[88]

Media coverage

During Lent, BBC's Radio Four normally broadcasts a series of programmes called the Lent Talks.[89] These 15-minute programmes are normally broadcast on a Wednesday and have featured various speakers, such as John Lennox.[90]

Holy days within the season of Lent

Methodist minister distributing ashes to confirmands kneeling at the chancel rails on Ash Wednesday
Church of the Holy SepulchreOld Jerusalem on GolgothaMount Calvary, where tradition claims Jesus was crucified and died

There are several holy days within the season of Lent:

  • Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent in Western Christianity, such as the Lutheran ChurchesRoman Rite of the Catholic Church, Methodist ChurchesReformed traditions, etc.
  • In the Ambrosian Rite and the Mozarabic Rite, there is no Ash Wednesday: Lent begins on the first Sunday and the fast begins on the first Monday.
  • The Sundays in Lent carry Latin names in German Lutheranism, derived from the beginning of the Sunday's introit. The first is called Invocabit, the second Reminiscere, the third Oculi, the fourth Laetare, the fifth Judica, the sixth Palm Sunday.
  • The fourth Sunday in Lent, which marks the halfway point between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, is referred to as Laetare Sunday by Anglicans, Roman Catholics, and many other Christians, because of the traditional Entrance Antiphon of the Mass. Due to the more "joyful" character of the day (since laetare in Latin means "rejoice"), the priest, deacon, and subdeacon have the option of wearing vestments of a rose colour (pink) instead of violet.
  • Additionally, the fourth Lenten Sunday, Mothering Sunday, which has become known as Mother's Day in the United Kingdom and an occasion for honouring mothers of children, has its origin in a 16th-century celebration of the Mother Church.
  • The fifth Sunday in Lent, also known in some denominations as Passion Sunday (and in some denominations also applies to Palm Sunday) marks the beginning of Passiontide.
  • The sixth Sunday in Lent, commonly called Palm Sunday, marks the beginning of Holy Week, the final week of Lent immediately preceding Easter.
  • Wednesday of Holy Week, Holy Wednesday (also sometimes known as Spy Wednesday) commemorates Judas Iscariot's bargain to betray Jesus.[91][92][93]
  • Thursday of Holy Week is known as Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday, and is a day Christians commemorate the Last Supper shared by Christ with his disciples.
  • The next day is Good Friday, on which Christians remember Jesus' crucifixion, death, and burial.
  • Saint Patrick's Day (March 17) always falls within Lent. The patron saint of Ireland, his solemnity is often considered a "day off" for Irish people during their Lenten fast.[94][95][96][97]

Easter Triduum

This service consists of readings from the Scriptures, especially John the Evangelist's account of the Passion of Jesus, followed by prayers, veneration of the cross of Jesus, and a communion service at which the hosts consecrated at the evening Mass of the day before are distributed. The Easter Vigil during the night between Holy Saturday afternoon and Easter Sunday morning starts with the blessing of a fire and a special candle, and with readings from Scripture associated with baptism. Then, the Gloria in Excelsis Deo is sung, water is blessed, baptism and confirmation of adults may take place, the people are invited to renew the promises of their own baptism, and finally, Mass is celebrated in the usual way from the Preparation of the Gifts onwards.In the Anglican, Lutheran, Old Catholic, Roman Catholic, and many other churches, the Easter Triduum is a three-day event that begins Maundy Thursday evening, with the entrance hymn of the Mass of the Lord's Supper. After this celebration, the consecrated Hosts are taken solemnly from the altar to a place of reposition, where the faithful are invited to meditate in the presence of the consecrated Hosts.This is the Church's response to Jesus' question to the disciples sleeping in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Could you not watch with me one hour?" On the next day, the liturgical commemoration of the Passion of Jesus Christ is celebrated at 3 pm, unless a later time is chosen due to work schedules.

Holy Week and the season of Lent, depending on denomination and local custom, end with Easter Vigil at sundown on Holy Saturday or on the morning of Easter Sunday. It is custom for some churches to hold sunrise services which include open air celebrations in some places.

Vestments

The chancel of a Lutheran church decorated with red paraments, the liturgical colour of the last week of Lent, Holy Week, in the Lutheran and Anglican Churches[98]

In the Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed, Roman Catholic, and many Anglican churches, the pastor's vestments are violet during the season of Lent. Roman Catholic priests wear white vestments on solemnity days for St. Joseph (March 19) and the Annunciation (March 25), although these solemnities get transferred to another date if they fall on a Sunday in Lent or at any time during Holy Week. On the fourth Sunday in Lent, rose-coloured (pink) vestments may be worn in lieu of violet. Historically, black had also been used: Pope Innocent III declared black to be the proper color for Lent, though Durandus of Saint-Pourçain claims violet has preference over black.[99]

In some Anglican churches, a type of unbleached linen or muslin known as "Lenten array" is worn during the first three weeks of Lent, crimson is worn during Passiontide, and on holy days, the colour proper to the day is worn.[100] In certain other Anglican churches, as an alternative to violet for all of Lent except Holy Week and red beginning on Palm Sunday through Holy Saturday, Lenten array, typically made of sackcloth such as burlap and trimmed with crimson cloth, often velvet, is worn, even during Holy Week—since the sackcloth represents penance and the crimson edges represent the Passion of Christ. Even the veils that cover the altar crosses or crucifixes and statuary (if any) are made of the same sackcloth with the crimson trim.

See also

Christianity

Islam

Judaism

Modern interpretations

  • Lent Event, asks people to donate the value of what they forego during Lent

General

References

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  53. ^ O'Neill, James David (1909). "Fast" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia5. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  54. ^ "CIC 1917: text – IntraText CT"Intratext.com. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  55. ^ Gregson, David. "Fasting"EWTNEternal Word Television Network. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  56. ^ "Paenitemini (February 17, 1966) – Paul VI"w2.vatican.va. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  57. Jump up to:a b "Code of Canon Law – IntraText"Vatican.va. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  58. ^ "Friday Penance resource from ICBC"Catholicbishops.ie. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  59. ^ "Fasting and Abstinence. Statement from the Bishops of England and Wales on Canons 1249–1253" (PDF).
  60. ^ "Catholics asked to abstain from meat for Friday penance"BBC News. 16 September 2011.
  61. ^ "EWTN Q & A, Response"Ewtn.com. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  62. ^ "Questions and Answers about Lent and Lenten Practices"usccb.org. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  63. ^ What is the holiest season of the Church Year?Archived 9 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 3 February 2010. Archived copy at the Internet Archive
  64. ^ Hatch, Jane M. (1978). The American Book of Days. Wilson. p. 163ISBN 978-0824205935Special religious services are held on Ash Wednesday by the Church of England, and in the United States by Episcopal, Lutheran, and some other Protestant churches. The Episcopal Church prescribes no rules concerning fasting on Ash Wednesday, which is carried out according to members' personal wishes; however, it recommends a measure of fasting and abstinence as a suitable means of marking the day with proper devotion. Among Lutherans as well, there are no set rules for fasting, although some local congregations may advocate this form of penitence in varying degrees.
  65. ^ Pfatteicher, Philip H. (1990). Commentary on the Lutheran Book of Worship: Lutheran Liturgy in Its Ecumenical Context. Augsburg Fortress Publishers. pp. 223–244, 260. ISBN 978-0800603922The Good Friday fast became the principal fast in the calendar, and even after the Reformation in Germany many Lutherans who observed no other fast scrupulously kept Good Friday with strict fasting.
  66. ^ Jacobs, Henry Eyster; Haas, John Augustus William (1899). The Lutheran Cyclopedia. Scribner. p. 110By many Lutherans Good Friday is observed as a strict fast. The lessons on Ash Wednesday emphasize the proper idea of the fast. The Sundays in Lent receive their names from the first words of their Introits in the Latin service, Invocavit, Reminiscere, Oculi, Lcetare, Judica.
  67. ^ Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount by Martin Luther, translated by Charles A. Hay
  68. ^ Getting the Word Out: The Alban Guide to Church Communications by Frederick H. Gonnerman, 2003. pages 102 and following
  69. ^ Abraham, William J.; Kirby, James E. (2009). The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies. Oxford University Press. pp. 257–. ISBN 978-0-19-160743-1.
  70. ^ "What does The United Methodist Church say about fasting?". The United Methodist Church. Retrieved 1 March2017.
  71. Jump up to:a b Ripley, George; Dana, Charles Anderson (1883). The American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary for General Knowledge. D. Appleton and Company. p. 101The Protestant Episcopal, Lutheran, and Reformed churches, as well as many Methodists, observe the day by fasting and special services.
  72. ^ Chavez, Kathrin (2010). "Lent: A Time to Fast and Pray". The United Methodist Church. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  73. ^ "The Liturgical Calendar"Reformed Church in America. 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  74. Jump up to:a b "Ash Wednesday"Reformed Church in America. 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  75. ^ "Summa Theologica Q147a8". Newadvent.org. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  76. ^ Richardson, Tim H. (2002). Sweets: A History of Candy. Bloomsbury. pp. 147–148ISBN 978-1-58234-229-0.
  77. ^ Alejandro Torres Gutiérrez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. "Millennium:Fear and Religion". Archived from the original on 18 August 2002.
  78. ^ "Baldwin's Itinerary Through Wales No. 2 by Giraldus Cambrensis". Gutenberg.org. 31 December 2001. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  79. ^ "Catholics United for the Faith – Lent – Discipline and History – Teaching the Catholic Faith"Catholics United for the Faith – Catholics United for the Faith is an international lay apostolate founded to help the faithful learn what the Catholic Church teaches.
  80. ^ Colin B. Donovan, Fast and Abstinence. Retrieved 28 December 2007.
  81. ^ Engber, Daniel (15 March 2006). "Thou Shalt Eat Corned Beef on Friday: Who Sets the Rules on Lent?"Slate. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
  82. ^ "Penitential Days – Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong". Archived from the original on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  83. ^ "The Church's Discipline as to Fasting and Abstinence". Anglican Communion. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  84. ^ "Ash Wednesday: What Is Ash Wednesday? How Do We Observe It? Why Should We?". Patheos.com. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  85. ^ "An Ecofeminist Perspective on Ash Wednesday and Lent". Peter Lang Verlagsgruppe. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  86. ^ Hebden, Keith (3 March 2014). "This Lent I will eat no food, to highlight the hunger all around us"The Guardian.
  87. ^ DiLallo, Matt (2 March 2014). "Believe it or Not, Catholics Observing Lent Save Our Environment". Fool.com. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  88. ^ Winston, Kimberly (18 March 2013). "After giving up religion, atheists try giving up something else for Lent". Religion News Service. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  89. ^ "Programmes: Lent Talks"BBC.
  90. ^ Lennox, John (27 March 2012). "John Lennox's Lent Talk for Radio 4"RZIM. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  91. ^ "spy, n."OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2013, Spy Wednesday n. in Irish use, the Wednesday before Easter.
  92. ^ Packer, George Nichols (1893). "Our Calendar: The Julian Calendar and Its Errors, how Corrected by the Gregorian". Corning, NY: [The author]. p. 112. Retrieved 15 December2013Spy Wednesday, so called in allusion to the betrayal of Christ by Judas, or the day on which he made the bargain to deliver Him into the hands of His enemies for 30 pieces of silver.
  93. ^ McNichol, Hugh (2014). "Spy Wednesday conversion to Holy Wednesday". Catholic Online. Retrieved 10 May2014.
  94. ^ "Is St. Patrick's Day always during Lent?"IrishCentral.com. 8 March 2019.
  95. ^ "Are Catholics allowed to drink, eat meat on St. Patrick's Day during Lent?"IrishCentral.com. 26 February 2020.
  96. ^ "A day off from Lent: St Patrick's Day traditions from the past". 15 March 2019 – via www.rte.ie.
  97. ^ https://cruxnow.com/commentary/2017/03/time-end-game-st-patricks-day-lent/
  98. ^ Gally, Howard E. (1989). Ceremonies of the Eucharist. Cowley Publications. p. 45. ISBN 978-1461660521In recent decades there has been a revival of the ancient use of red (crimson or scarlet) for Holy Week among both Episcopalians and Lutherans. The Roman rite has restored the use of red only on Palm Sunday and Good Friday.
  99. ^ Kellner, K. A. H. (1908). Heortology: A History of the Christian Festivals from Their Origin to the Present DayKegan Paul Trench Trubner & Co Limited. p. 430.
  100. ^ The Church of England rubric states: "The colour for a particular service should reflect the predominant theme. If the Collect, Readings, etc. on a Lesser Festival are those of the saint, then either red (for a martyr) or white is used; otherwise, the colour of the season is retained." See p. 532 here


Saturday, February 6, 2021

What To Do About Lent? Part 1/2




Introduction

We're coming up to the season of Lent and so I thought I should post two articles on the Christian observation of it during this season of political unrest during the viral pandemic and its variants.

Lent follows the celebration of Christ's Advent (Christmas) and precedes the celebration of Christ's Death and Atoning Resurrection (Easter). It lasts 40 days commemorating Jesus' time in the wilderness before coming to the Cross. This first post asks the question, "What To Do About Lent?" In Part 2 we will deal more directly with the observance of Lent itself as a practice.

This first article will highlight the obtusiveness of American Christianity as it finds itself embroiled in American politics. This energy has placed parts of the Christian church in grave danger of losing its witness, if not its faith altogether. Young people are leaving the church in droves dismayed by the church's unloving words and deeds spoken into the oppressed other.

Who? The borderwall immigrants being ripped apart from their children. The refugees seeking assylum from harm. Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, even Asians, because of the viral pandemic gripping the world. Not to mention lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, and the queers of society (LGBTQ). Then their are the impoverished, the invisible families on the street, and on and on it goes of unjust American oppression acting against the unwanted other. Jesus said to see the other, hear the other, love the other, and minister to the other. Not to oppress the other, harm the other, chain the other, hate the other. This is not Christianity. But it is what Christianity has become.

The church then has placed itself in the position of condemning society all around itself. Seeing the sin in other lives rather than the plank in its own eye. While then having the audacity to proclaim itself holy by hosting DC Rallies in the Fall of 2020 where it repents of nothing but steels itself to launch sessionist attacks on America's democracy and Americans in general. The sin of oppression lies in the church of oppression and not in the unloved other whom it hates but God loves. Whom Jeshua has come to save. Let repentance first begin in the House of the Lord before casting aspersions upon the unapproved other whom the church would deem sinner but whom God deems loved. Thus saith the Lord.

Politics has done the church no favors. Never has. Never will. So how, during this season of Lent, will the church respond to her God? Will it repent and return to the work of ministry of the annunciation of Christ the Lover and Redeemer of our souls? Or will it continue down the path of unholiness leaning unto uncivil democracy and oppression, if not outright neo-facism, all for the prize of obtaining and holding unholy power?

Here then is my first post - "What To Do About Lent?" Part 1/2. Part 2 will deal more directly with the observance itself. But here, I feel the burden of the shallowness of observing Lent without saying something first about the church which is participating in it without qualm or uneasiness over its social and political actions.

My guide in this would be the German scholar, theologian, and pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his actions against the German church as it plummeted into Nazism. He spoke against its oppression of the Jews, gypsies, and foreigner in its lands. And as he worked against a political philosophy of death and power even he himself became imprisoned and eventually hung for his anti-fascist beliefs. Let's pray that the Lord of the Harvest may come once again to save His lost people from greater harm than they already have done. Even as Jesus stood in the fires of humanity speaking love, hope, and healing actions, until his death by the hands of ungodly religious leaders.

R.E. Slater
February 6, 2021





Jeshua [N] [H] [S]

  • Head of the ninth priestly order ( Ezra 2:36 ); called also Jeshuah ( 1 Chronicles 24:11 ).

  • A Levite appointed by Hezekiah to distribute offerings in the priestly cities ( 2 Chronicles 31:15 ).

  • Ezra 2:6 ; Nehemiah 7:11 .

  • Ezra 2:40 ; Nehemiah 7:43 .

  • The son of Jozadak, and high priest of the Jews under Zerubbabel ( Nehemiah 7:7 ; Nehemiah 12:1 Nehemiah 12:7 Nehemiah 12:10 Nehemiah 12:26 ); called Joshua ( Haggai 1:1 Haggai 1:12 ; Haggai 2:2 Haggai 2:4 ; Zechariah 3:1 Zechariah 3:3 Zechariah 3:6 Zechariah 3:8 Zechariah 3:9 ).

  • A Levite ( Ezra 8:33 ).

  • Nehemiah 3:19 .

  • A Levite who assisted in the reformation under ( Nehemiah 8:7 ; Nehemiah 9:4 Nehemiah 9:5 ).

  • Son of Kadmiel ( Nehemiah 12:24 ).

  • A city of Judah ( Nehemiah 11:26 ).

  • Nehemiah 8:17 ; Joshua, the son of Nun.





  • (a saviour ), another form of the name of Joshua of Jesus.

    1. Joshua the son of Nun. ( Nehemiah 8:17 ) [JOSHUA]
    2. A priest in the reign of David, to whom the nine course fell by David, to whom the ninth course fell by lot. ( 1 Chronicles 24:11 ) (B.C. 1014.)
    3. One of the Levites in the reign of Hezekiah. ( 2 Chronicles 31:15 ) (B.C. 726.)
    4. Son of Jehozadak, first high priest after the Babylonish captivity, B.C. 536. Jeshua was probably born in Babylon, whither his father Jehozadak had been taken captive while young. ( 1 Chronicles 6:15 ) Authorized Version. He came up from Babylon in the first year of Cyrus, with Zerubbabel, and took a leading part with him in the rebuilding of the temple and the restoration of the Jewish commonwealth. The two prophecies concerning him in ( Zechariah 3:1 ) ... and Zech 6:9-15 point him out as an eminent type of Christ.
    5. Head of a Levitical house, one of those which returned from the Babylonish captivity. ( Ezra 2:40 ; 3:9 ; Nehemiah 3:19 ; 8:7 ; Nehemiah 9:4 Nehemiah 9:5 ; 12:8 ) etc.
    6. A branch of the family of Pahath-moab, one of the chief families, probably, of the tribe of Judah. ( Nehemiah 10:14 ; 7:11 ) etc.; Ezra 10:30





    JESHUA

    jesh'-u-a, je-shu'-a (yeshua`):

    A place occupied by the children of Judah after their return from captivity (Nehemiah 11:26), evidently, from the places named with it, in the extreme South of Judah. It may correspond with the Shema of Joshua 15:26, and possibly to the Sheba of 19:2. The site may be Khirbet Sa`weh, a ruin upon a prominent hill, Tell es Sa`weh, 12 miles East-Northeast of Beersheba. The hill is surrounded by a wall of large blocks of stone. PEF, III, 409-10, Sh XXV.





    Meaning
    Salvation, Saved
    Etymology
    From the verb ישע (yasha'), to save.

    The name Jeshua in the Bible

    The name Jeshua is a shortened form of the name Joshua (יהושע) and this shortened form Jeshua occurs in the later Scriptures (see Nehemiah 8:17 for a Jeshua the son of Nun, who is doubtlessly Joshua the successor of Moses — Numbers 13:16).

    Other men named Jeshua are (and the following probably overlap a bit):

    • Levite who dealt with voluntary offerings (2 Chronicles 31:15).
    • A leader among the returnees under Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:6).
    • A leader of a priestly clan (Ezra 2:36).
    • The father of one of the wall's repairers (Nehemiah 3:19).
    • One of the first rabbis installed by Ezra (Nehemiah 8:7).
    • Then there is a high priest named Jeshua who is mentioned by Ezra (2:2) and Zechariah (3:1) and Haggai who names him Joshua (1:1). Nehemiah mentions this Jeshua among the kohanim who return with Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 12:1). This Jeshua is a bit mysterious because although he's fit to travel, he is father of Joiakim, grandfather of Eliashib, great-grandfather of Joiada, great-great-grandfather of Jonathan, and great-great-great-grandfather of Jaddua (12:10-11). But it seems likely that this Jeshua was still alive because only Jeshua (son of Azaniah) is mentioned among the signers of the sealed document, and one would certainly expect a high priest on that list.
    • And finally, there is also a town in Judah named Jeshua, which is mentioned in Nehemiah 11:26.

    Etymology of the name Jeshua

    The name Jeshua comes from the word group that starts with the verb ישע (yasha'), meaning to save or deliver:

    Excerpted from: Abarim Publications' Biblical Dictionary
    שוע  ישע

    The verb ישע (yasha') means to be unrestricted and thus to be free and thus to be saved (from restriction, from oppression and thus from ultimate demise). A doer of this verb is a savior. Nouns ישועה (yeshua), ישע (yesha') and תשועה (teshua) mean salvation. Adjective שוע (shoa') means (financially) independent, freed in an economic sense.

    Verb שוע (shawa') means to cry out (for salvation). Nouns שוע (shua'), שוע (shoa') and שועה (shawa) mean a cry (for salvation).





    God and Power

    So what do you think of when you think of the God of Love? Do you think of:
    • Intimidating power? Such as Judgment or Hell?
    • Self-righteousness? Such as condemnation and hate?
    • Sanctimonious hypocrisy? Such as exhibited by a Holy One doing the opposite of Holiness?
    • Or outright greed, hatred and blood-spilling, with which the church has weighed Jesus down with?
    No, neither do I. So why is today's church involved with these evils and supporting unholy men and women who daily commit them?

    I don't really know either. But I think Christians should stop. And stop confusing good civil democracy with their cherished totalitarian theocracy. America doesn't lift up kings here, but it does lift up people of all kinds as a melting pot of hope and responsible freedom.

    A loving God loves all the time. In this life and the next. Remember, it is our sin which condemns us... not a loving God. A God who would heal us... not condemn us. Too many have confused God with sin, and sin with judgment. The two ideas have been intimated wrongly of each other by confusing essence with outcome.

    A loving God saves and does not condemn. Surely He judges in terms of failure and wrong. But it is our sin which judges and condemns our actions to death and hell. A God of life and love can do neither. It would go against His essence. God is Jeshua, Savior. He is Life and Light. But the outcomes are upon us and the misuse of our freedom to hate and do evil. Hell is that place which flees from God, whether in this life or the next. Many a Christian is fleeing from God just like the irreligious and unfaithful. One doesn't have to be dead to be living in hell.

    A Kingdom on Earth?

    I earlier mentioned a totalitarian theocracy (or kingdom) which today's New Testament Church yearns for by seating Christ upon the throne of rulership. However, in theocratic terms, or kingdom terms, this is not how democracies work. They are opposed to kings and rule by fiat. Democracies more or less observe the idea of the God who shares power. Democracies lead through service. By lifting up the weak and powerless over the strong and willful. Democracies follow in the image and likeness of Christ rather than the Old Testament ideals of benevolent kings and despots which are fundamentally at odds as oxymorons to the rule of power itself.

    Further, a good civil democracy rejects an Old Testament theocracy permitting stoning, racial hatred, legalism, genocide, discrimination, religious bigotry, murder, etc and etc. God was a God of love then even as He is now. This hasn't changed. Further, Israel's theocratic leadership, whether vested in its priests or kings, was no different then its people. Most were as corrupt then as the church's leadership is deficit today. A godly leader, either then or now, is a man or woman who admits their weakness, seeks God to overcome their failings, is humble, modest, and leads by example by work and by deed. When leaders do such practices they stand out. Consider Moses, Joshua, David, or any one of the Apostles. Leaders lead by example.

    What About Theocratic Living?

    Back in the "good old days" of the Old Testament under the Mosaic Covenant established by God through Moses at Mt. Sinai, the Ten Commandments stated what love wasn't. Which is curious, isn't it? Think about it.... Since when is Love ever expressed in the not doing of something? Yeah, verily, Love is always expressed in the doing. Not in the not doing. As example, if one doesn't dishonor their parents one still may not love them. But if one loves their parents they would not dishonor them intentionally. Understand?

    So too with a good civil democracy which has its laws but underneath those laws is the commitment to treat one's fellow neighbor well and with intentional goodness. By this arrangement, both it's democratically elected laws and it's civic duty upheld the other in responsible accountability. And by these Americans are to stand against lies, duplicity, double-dealing, hypocrisy, and sedition against the nation. Americans work their disagreements out with one another through civil institutions. Not by slandering one another, seeking to overthrow their government, or suppressing rightful votes. So let's say it again... the season of Lent is a season of introspection, repentance, and commitment to love God and neighbor.

    Why then do you think Jesus was so angered by the scribes and the pharisees? By Israel's religious leadership? Because her Jewish priests and leaders had taken God's love and made it an evil thing. Even as today's church leaders are actively commiting in their political activism by choosing for racial bondage, discriminating oppression, opposing social justice, illegal anti-democratic reforms, denial of interfaith ministries and reformatory societal norms.

    Yeshua, Jehovah, Yahveh, Adoni, YHWH, are names of the God who is Love. We, as God's children, are to learn to love. To learn to bring God's love into societal civics and political public forums. We do not stand on the outside of civil institutions throwing rocks from platforms of denial and borderland beliefs. We must learn to listen, speak truth and not lies, and be at peace with one another. The evil which Christians are doing are but a litany to the list we started with in this post.

    Therefore my brothers and sisters, Refuse evil. Do good. Love your democracy and make it better, not worse. Let the season of Lent begin a season of personal and political churchly repentance. A repentance which unmasks false Christian leaders from the power and privilege they lust. And from the earthly oppressions they seek by harm and destruction upon fellow human beings they have declared unholy and uncircumscribed, lest they place Jesus and His Church again upon the altars of evil and crosses of death. Amen.

    R.E. Slater
    February 6, 2021

    Tuesday, January 19, 2021

    Integral Studies with Matthew Segall

     

    https://footnotes2plato.com/

    MATTHEW D. SEGALL

    "The safest general characterization of the philosophical tradition is that it
    consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." - Alfred North Whitehead

    "Philosophy begins in wonder. And, at the end, when philosophic thought
    has done its best, the wonder remains." - Alfred North Whitehead


    Advanced Seminar - A. N. Whitehead's Process and Reality

    By the mid-1920s, the new quantum and relativity theories had already succeeded in turning the old mechanical philosophy of Nature inside out by transforming matter into light and merging space and time together with gravity. The classical explanations of Nature offered by a once confident scientific materialism no longer made any sense. A second scientific revolution was afoot. At the same time, in philosophy, Ludwig Wittgenstein tried to close the door to further metaphysical speculation upon the ultimate nature of things: “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” The physicists struggling to come to terms with their discoveries could henceforth expect no help from philosophers. In protest against the logical positivism of his era, which decided to give up on understanding Nature and withdraw into the analysis of scientific formalisms and statistics, Whitehead awoke from the dogmatic slumber of the Newtonian paradigm and attempted to make natural science philosophical again. He sought novel insight into depths of reality as yet unspoken. In Process & Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, Whitehead aims for nothing less than the construction of an organic system of the universe that not only brings quantum and relativity theories into coherence, but gathers up scientific truths, aesthetic feelings, and religious values into an integral vision of the whole.

    Students in this advanced seminar will engage in a close reading of Whitehead’s (350 page) “essay.” This text is widely considered to be one of the most obscure in the Western tradition. That is perhaps because Whitehead’s organic and process-relational way of seeing the world is so unusual. He often found it necessary to invent new words, or to use old words in new ways. His text will be supplemented with secondary readings by scholars skilled at elucidating the finer points of the “philosophy of organism” (e.g., Isabelle Stengers, Randall Auxier and Gary Herstein, Catherine Keller). (3 Units)


    EXTERNAL RESOURCES

    Resume, Contributions, Articles, and Publicastions -


    CIIS Videos with Matthew Segall -


    Footnotes to Plato - Lectures Archive by Matthew Segall


    Philosophical Essays by Matthew Segall


    Online Courses by Matthew Segall