St Simon’s Episcopal Church, 1522 Highway 138 NE, Conyers, GA 30013       tel: 770 483 3242/2036   

email:  info@stsimonsconyers.net    Web Administrator lmaher@stsimonsconyers.net        Webmail

The forty weekdays of Lent mark the time that Jesus spent in the wilderness, preparing for his public ministry. It’s often a time when new members prepare for baptism and existing members meditate on what it means to be a Christian.


The story of Christ’s temptations in the wilderness reminds us that living in our covenant with God is not always an easy task. Traditionally, we “give up” an earthly temptation for Lent. The great feast of Easter in six weeks’ time reassures that chocolate is not gone forever from our lives and that — if we keep the promises we made when we were baptised — God will fulfil his promise of everlasting life.


Fr Dan reminds us that Lent is also a time to add something to our lives. We can do this in the form of a spiritual exercise. Fr Daniel calls us to “give up” 20 or 30 minutes a day for prayer, meditation or reading or a combination of the three. When Easter ends the time of abstinence, he hopes we will have acquired a new and constructive habit as well as perhaps given up an old and less healthy one.

Lent: Forty Days Of Preparation

How Many

Days Make Forty?

Different denominations calculate the 40 days of Lent differently. We Anglicans, in common with most of Western Christianity, count 40 weekdays and six Sundays from Ash Wednesday to Easter. Sundays are not counted because  we use those days to celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death in our services - a kind of “mini-Easter” that reminds us where Lent is leading us.

Why 40 Days?

40 is a significant number in Jewish-Christian scripture:

  1. •In Genesis, the flood which destroyed the earth was brought about by 40 days and nights of rain.

  2. •The Hebrews spent 40 years in the wilderness before reaching the promised land

  3. •Moses fasted for 40 days before receiving the ten commandments

  4. A time period of 40, whether days, months or years, is always a period of testing, probation or chastisement (but not judgment) and ends with a period of restoration, revival or renewal.

PASSIONTIDE

The word “passion” comes from the Latin word meaning “capable of suffering”. The last two weeks of Lent are known as the Passion of Christ: the time when he showed himself capable of suffering as humans suffer.


At this time, Christ’s divine nature was temporarily hidden.

Crosses and statues and pictures of Christ — except those of the Stations of the Cross — may be veiled. The veiling symbolises this hiding of Christ’s divinity. It echoes the gospel for Passion Sunday (John 12:20-33) which says, “Jesus hid himself from the people.”


Passiontide ends on Good Friday, with the death of Christ on the cross.

Quadragesima

Church services used to be held entirely in Latin. Lent was then known as Quadragesima, or ‘fortieth day’ before Easter