Saint James Episcopal Church of Goshen NY » Lent http://stjamesgoshen.org/new Where Everyone Is Welcome! Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:17:09 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Ash Wednesday Services February 22 http://stjamesgoshen.org/new/2012/01/ash-wednesday-services/ http://stjamesgoshen.org/new/2012/01/ash-wednesday-services/#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:25:41 +0000 John Strobl http://stjamesgoshen.org/new/?p=521 Ash Wednesday is February 22. Imposition of Ashes will be at 12 Noon and 7:30pm.

Ash Wednesday
In the Western Church, the first day of Lent, being the seventh Wednesday before Easter. On this day ashes are placed on the foreheads of the faithful to remind them of death, of the sorrow they should feel for their sins, and of the necessity of changing their lives. The practice, which dates from the early Middle Ages, is common among Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Episcopalians, and many Lutherans; it was also adopted by some Methodists and Presbyterians in the 1990s.

 

]]> http://stjamesgoshen.org/new/2012/01/ash-wednesday-services/feed/ 0 Lent, Feb 22- April 7 http://stjamesgoshen.org/new/2012/01/lent-2/ http://stjamesgoshen.org/new/2012/01/lent-2/#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:24:32 +0000 John Strobl http://stjamesgoshen.org/new/?p=722 Early Christians observed “a season of penitence and fasting” in preparation for the Paschal feast, or Pascha (BCP, pp. 264-265). The season now known as Lent (from an Old English word meaning “spring,” the time of lengthening days) has a long history. Originally, in places where Pascha was celebrated on a Sunday, the Paschal feast followed a fast of up to two days. In the third century this fast was lengthened to six days. Eventually this fast became attached to, or overlapped, another fast of forty days, in imitation of Christ’s fasting in the wilderness. The forty-day fast was especially important for converts to the faith who were preparing for baptism, and for those guilty of notorious sins who were being restored to the Christian assembly. In the western church the forty days of Lent extend from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday, omitting Sundays. The last three days of Lent are the sacred Triduum of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Today Lent has reacquired its significance as the final preparation of adult candidates for baptism. Joining with them, all Christians are invited “to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word” (BCP, p. 265).

Click on following to download Lent Meditations http://www.er-d.org/userfiles/2011devo-printable.pdf

 

]]> http://stjamesgoshen.org/new/2012/01/lent-2/feed/ 0