Worship Matters
Worship Matters
Lent – Anglo Saxon: “spring”
This year, Lent falls neatly within the month of March. Lent is a forty-day (excluding Sundays) season of penitence and preparation for the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil) and Easter.
In the church year calendar, Lent is not as ancient as the Triduum or Easter. In the early fourth-century, the death and resurrection of the Lord were observed together in a unified three-day celebration known as the Triduum, consisting of two days of fasting followed by the Easter Vigil.
By the middle of the fourth-century, an additional three-week preparatory period developed. Soon it was expanded to six weeks, or forty days prior to the Triduum. This preparatory period became known as Lent and was a period of final, intense preparation for adult baptism which would take place at the Easter Vigil.
For those already baptized, Lent was a period of time to review the meaning of the Bible, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and Baptism in preparation for the renewal of Baptismal vows at the Easter Vigil. For Lutherans, that would be the Small Catechism.
Lent also soon became a season of penitence in preparation for absolution on Holy Thursday.
By the close of the fifth-century, there was a desire to exclude Sundays from Lent, since Sundays were not “fast days” but “feast days” and thus Lent was extended to the Wednesday before the first Sunday. This Wednesday, originally known as the “Beginning of the Fast,” has been called Ash Wednesday since the late eleventh-century.
Lent – Anglo Saxon: “spring”
This year, Lent falls neatly within the month of March. Lent is a forty-day (excluding Sundays) season of penitence and preparation for the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil) and Easter.
In the church year calendar, Lent is not as ancient as the Triduum or Easter. In the early fourth-century, the death and resurrection of the Lord were observed together in a unified three-day celebration known as the Triduum, consisting of two days of fasting followed by the Easter Vigil.
By the middle of the fourth-century, an additional three-week preparatory period developed. Soon it was expanded to six weeks, or forty days prior to the Triduum. This preparatory period became known as Lent and was a period of final, intense preparation for adult baptism which would take place at the Easter Vigil.
For those already baptized, Lent was a period of time to review the meaning of the Bible, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and Baptism in preparation for the renewal of Baptismal vows at the Easter Vigil. For Lutherans, that would be the Small Catechism.
Lent also soon became a season of penitence in preparation for absolution on Holy Thursday.
By the close of the fifth-century, there was a desire to exclude Sundays from Lent, since Sundays were not “fast days” but “feast days” and thus Lent was extended to the Wednesday before the first Sunday. This Wednesday, originally known as the “Beginning of the Fast,” has been called Ash Wednesday since the late eleventh-century.
