Lent

[Angelskates]

I have some questions for everyone involved in this thread. I'm Jewish, so Lent is not part of our religious practice. Is Lent observed by all Christians, regardless of denomination, or is it only observed by Catholics. Same question for Ash Wednesday - is it just observed among Catholics, or do the other denominations observe it as well?

it's observed by anyone who wants to observe. I know Catholics who do, and Catholics who don't, Christians who do, Christians who don't. Some churches encourage extra reading of the Bible, or 40 days of (something else, building strong relationships, reflection etc.) This year my interfaith group is observing with me: two Jews, three Muslims, five Christians (two of them Catholic), two atheists and two agnostics. Luckily we have our hands busy sewing, since some of us have already had challenges not punching others due to lack of caffeine!! We're fasting coffee, alcohol and chocolate and doing the Craft Hope project. We're also reading the Bible and having our "normal" weekly discussions. I've had "why would anyone do this?!?" texts from several participates already. And let me say, guys who sew are hot. I'm not very good at sewing. And I don't feel the effects of caffeine withdrawal so can't use shaky hands as an excuse!

I'm not sure I know of a church who hasn't encourages *something* for the Lenten season, but most were left to the individual congregation members to do I think. I'm not much of a church-goer. Many churches also do a Lenten season series of sermons leading up to Easter.

[MacMadame]

These are Christian holidays but how they are observed varies from tradition to tradition. Lent and Ash Wednesday are really big deals in the Catholic Church and less so in some other Christian churches.

[Spun Silver]

Another thing I've done for Lent (with varying degrees of success ) is to follow the "Complaint Free World" guidelines:

http://www.acomplaintfreeworld.org/

I want to thank you for posting this suggestion. It is not about stuffing feelings IMO but learning to be more constructive as well as not imposing your problems on others. When I saw the Q&A on the website about how often the average person complains (15-30x/day) and how long it takes to unlearn that habit (4-10 months) I was convinced they knew what they were talking about. It's hard to change habits! I am not getting the purple rubber bracelet, though. I have a little stretchy bracelet that will do just fine, or a rosary bracelet would be even more efficacious. It really helps to have an object to help you be mindful.

BTW, I would distinguish between complaining and expressing fear, for example. "My husband is lazy" is on a different order from "Help, I am about to get evicted!"

[maatTheViking]

I had never heard of Lent until moving to the US - The Danish state church is Protestant and it is not observed or talked about at all.

The only left-over thing is 'fastelavn' which is celebrated the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, though today it is a secular holiday for kids to dress up and ask for candy, similar to Halloween in the US. It comes from a feat before fasting at Lent? Does that make sense? I vaguely knew it had something to do with an aborted Catholic tradition growing up, but not a lot. In general a lot of things that was seen as very Catholic was probably cracked down on hard during the Reformation - or turned protestant.


In general, I find it interesting that though Danish public schools have a 'Religion' subject where you are supposed to learn about different religions, mostly we learned very superficial things - I have learnt about Lent, Passover, Jewish New Year, Holi and more after moving to USA.

[suep1963]

I'm protestant, and we do Ash Wednesday (complete with ashes) and things throughout lent. One of the suggestions at last night's service was instead of giving up something for Lent, to step outside your comfort zone and do something for others.

[Spun Silver]

I had never heard of Lent until moving to the US - The Danish state church is Protestant and it is not observed or talked about at all.

The only left-over thing is 'fastelavn' which is celebrated the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, though today it is a secular holiday for kids to dress up and ask for candy, similar to Halloween in the US. It comes from a feat before fasting at Lent? Does that make sense? I vaguely knew it had something to do with an aborted Catholic tradition growing up, but not a lot. In general a lot of things that was seen as very Catholic was probably cracked down on hard during the Reformation - or turned protestant.

Sounds like Mardi-Gras (Fat Tuesday) or Carnival season right before the fasting of Lent begins. Yeah, makes total sense to me!

[Spun Silver]

Do you mind saying what type of Protestant you are? My guess would be one of the liturgical traditions (Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, Epicopalian).... but I would love to know that Lent is observed in other churches as well.

[Corianna]

In my Irish tradition, Fat Tuesday is pancake night. The point being to use up the fat people would have in their larders before fasting - meatless meals - began.

[suep1963]

Do you mind saying what type of Protestant you are? My guess would be one of the liturgical traditions (Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, Epicopalian).... but I would love to know that Lent is observed in other churches as well.

United Methodist. Lutherans definitely have Lent.

[paskatefan]

Thanks for all of your responses to my questions. So, this means that some non Catholic Christians observe Ash Wednesday as well (attending church & having ashes put on their foreheads)?

[Angelskates]

Thanks for all of your responses to my questions. So, this means that some non Catholic Christians observe Ash Wednesday as well (attending church & having ashes put on their foreheads)?

Yes. It's a Christian tradition, not a Catholic one. Actually there aren't many (I can't think of any?) traditions that Catholics observe, that at least one other Christian denomination doesn't observe. We may observe slightly differently, though.

All Christian denominations *have* Lent, it's part of the Christian calendar, but some don't observe it as much as others, and there are many different ways to observe.

[paskatefan]

Thanks again, Angelskates, and everyone else here!

[Marge_Simpson]

I've made about 20 loans on Kiva in the past, and figured Lent was a good time to make some more.
If anyone is interested, click here and I'll get $25 to lend:
http://www.kiva.org/invitedby/donna7518

[Angelskates]

A week to go - how's everyone doing? I've just finished menu planning for Easter feast, and wrote to the owner of New Hope Foundation to work out when we can deliver the bibs We're hoping to get 100.

[Marge_Simpson]

I'm doing really well. And I've changed churches.

[RoseAugust]

Lutheran checking in here. In my congregation we observe this way: Ash Wednesday evening service to kick off Lent. Mid-week soup suppers, study and worship. (The study this year focused on food issues since we are in the process of staring a community garden.) During Holy Week we have worship services on Maundy Thursday (to remember the last supper and Jesus' washing of the Disciples' feet), Good Friday (to remember the cruxifiction and words on the cross), and an Easter Virgil on Saturday evening (which I don't attend because I prefer to wait to Sunday morning to celebrate Easter). We don't "give up" eating things, but rather give extra. For example, this year we are collecting offerings for a community garden project in Haiti.

[sk8pics]

I have managed to keep all my Lenten promises, first time in awhile, I think. So, a good Lent. And when I went to my friend's parish reconciliation service, and went to him for individual confession, he said some very kind things to me that reflect the 25 years we've known each other. It was very special.

[Angelskates]

We finished our 100 bibs tonight!

[Marge_Simpson]

Angelskates, have you been on the Craft Hope website lately?
http://www.crafthope.com/
You rock!