About Lent
The Season of LENT 2008
Ash Wednesday, February 6, 2008 -- "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
12:00 Noon -- Confession, prayer and Imposition of Ashes (Download PDF service folder for meditation and reflection.)
7:00 p.m. -- Holy Communion and Imposition of Ashes. (Download PDF service folder for meditation and reflection; read the Sermon.)
Wednesdays in Lent (February 13, 20, 27, March 5, 12) -- Potluck Supper and Study on the Women of the Bible, in Hoick Conference Room.
Thursdays in Lent -- weekday fellowship and worship experience (February 14, 21, 28, March 6, 13)
6:30 p.m. -- Potluck "Soup Suppers" in Hoick Hall
Lent is about giving --chiefly about our Lord's giving of himself in the passion and suffering by which he gave us redemption. But also, the disciplines of Lent are about our giving back to God for Christ's sake, through the compassionate acts by which we offer love and hope to others.
7:15 p.m. -- Holden Village Evening Prayer --- a brief service of song, word and reflection. This year's theme is an Introduction to Contemplative Prayer:
- February 14: God's presence
- February 21: God's light
- February 28: God's grace
- March 6: God's healing
- March 13: God's longing (God's passion)
Sundays in Lent (February 10, 17, 24, March 2, 9) -- a richly traditional musical chant setting is used.
10:00 a.m. Holy Communion service. All are welcome!
Holy Week 2008
- Palm Sunday, March 16, 2008-- Procession with Palms begins on the front Terrace; commemoration of our Lord's Passion History; Holy Communion
- Weekdays in Holy Week (Monday--Friday) -- Daily Prayer at 12:00 noon (brief spoken service) in the Sanctuary. JOIN US IN PRAYER ON-LINE: You may view or download Daily Prayers for Holy Week and pray these brief services on your own:
- Monday in Holy Week
- Tuesday in Holy Week
- Wednesday in Holy Week
- Maundy Thursday
- Good Friday -- The Way of the Cross
- Maundy Thursday, March 20, 2008-- 7:00 p.m. Commemoration of the Institution of the Last Supper; Holy Communion; in the Sanctuary; solemn Stripping of the Altar
- Good Friday, March 21, 2008-- 7: p.m. Commemoration of the suffering and death of Jesus: Bidding Prayers; Procession of the Cross and Adoration of the Crucified
Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008:
See: Easter in Hollywood
from the Exhortation for Ash Wednesday:
Brothers and sisters: God created us to experience joy in communion with him, to love all humanity, and to live in harmony with all of his creation. But sin separates us from God, our neighbors, and creation, and so we do not enjoy the life our creator intended for us. Also, by our sin we grieve our heavenly Father, who does not desire us to come under judgment, but to turn to him and live.
As disciples of the Lord Jesus we are called to struggle against everything that leads us away from love of God and neighbor. Repentance, fasting, prayer, and works of love—the disciplines of this season of Lent—help us to wage our spiritual warfare. I invite you, therefore, to commit yourselves to this struggle and to confess your sins, asking our Father for strength to persevere in your Lenten discipline.A One-Minute History of Lent
The season of Lent is a period of 40 days, not including Sundays, beginning with Ash Wednesday. Lent has been observed by Christians since at least the 4th century, in preparation of the celebration of the Paschal Feast (Easter) and as a season for new converts to prepare for Baptism. The 40 days memorialize Jesus' 40 days of temptation and fasting in the wilderness, and are characterized by practices of self-discipline, repentance and self-denial, as each Christian identifies with and imitates the discipline and sacrifice of Jesus. The word "Lent" comes from an old English word for "lengthen", the time of year when the days begin to get longer.
The observance of Lent dates back as early as the 3rd and 4th centuries when Christians wanted to remember (commemorate) the events of the last week of Jesus' life. Some made pilgrimages to Jerusalem to walk through the "stations of the cross" on the very street where Jesus had walked to his death (now called the Via Dolorosa, the Way of Sorrow). The annual observance of Holy Week eventually led to the observance of Lent as a longer period of preparation for these sacred events.
Lent is also thought of as a "journey" --- as in the following prayer appointed for Ash Wednesday:
Merciful God, accompany our journey through these forty days. Renew us in the gift of Baptim, that we may provide for those who are poor, pray for those in need, resist self-indulgence, and above all that we may find our treasure in the life of your Son, Jesus Chist our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
