What are you doing for Lent this year?

Within two weeks we'll be into the Christian season of Lent. Depending on your church tradition and background this will be more or less of a 'thing'. As I've mentioned on here before, I grew up going to church twice every week but would never have acknowledged Lent - although pancakes definitely were a 'thing'. Lent is not mentioned in the Bible. The disciples would not have observed Lent. So what is it all about?

Lent is the time in the church calendar that runs from Ash Wednesday (this year that's the 14th of February) through to Easter Day (which is Sunday 1 April 2018). Traditionally Lent is the period of preparation in the run-up to the events of Easter - the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. A time of reflection and repentance - which in certain church traditions is often accompanied by fasting. It is also identified with Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness during which time he fasted (e.g. Matthew 4:1-11)

Lent lasts for 40 days but if you've looked at a calendar you will have noticed that there are actually 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. That's because the six Sundays during this time do not count as days of fasting - Sundays are always a day of celebration as we remember and celebrate the resurrection.


Many people, even those with little or no church contact, will give something up for Lent - often this will be chocolate, although in recent years we have been encouraged to be a little bit more imaginative, giving up things like Facebook or television. Within some cultures it is common to go without fish for Lent. Other cultures with have different traditions. This 'doing without' builds on the fasting element that is traditionally a part of Lent.

Although I have no hard statistics to prove this, I get the sense that over recent years the observance of Lent has grown in popularity. I don't know if it's the result of the breaking down of some of the traditional barriers between different denominations; or the appearance of new and creative ways to observe Lent; or the fact that we are exposed to such a wide spectrum of ideas on Social Media - but whatever it is, you may be thinking about what you're going to do this Lent.

As well as the traditional giving something up approach many Christians are now using Lent as a spur to do something positive.

Perhaps most well known of these is 40 Acts. When you visit their website (click here) you are greeted with the message: 

The challenge is to use each day of Lent to do something generous. And whether you're an individual, a church, a family, a school... there will be different ways that you can get involved and they will have the resources to help you.

Others might choose to sign up to a 40-day reading programme - maybe using an actual book, or often through an App or daily email service. If you're a regular user of Social Media then you'll probably start to see them appearing in the next few days.

I've also seen other ideas, such as a Plastic-less Lent - click here - looking to use Lent as the springboard to develop habits that are good for the environment and learn along the way. I'm sure that as Ash Wednesday approaches there will be other interesting ideas showing up on my Twitter feed each day.

Anyway, with just over a week to go until Ash Wednesday it's time to think about what I'm doing for Lent this year.

Want to do Lent differently?

This time next week it will be pancake day - Shrove Tuesday, which means that a week tomorrow (Ash Wednesday) it will be the beginning of Lent.

The time of Lent has different significance in different church traditions, so even if you go to church regularly you may not know very much about Lent at all.

So just in case you need some background here is a quick summary.

Lent is the time in the church calendar that runs from Ash Wednesday through to Easter. Traditionally Lent is the period of preparation in the run up to the events of Easter - the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. A time of reflection and repentance - which in certain church traditions is often accompanied by fasting.

Lent lasts for 40 days but if you've looked at a calendar you will have noticed that there are actually 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. That's because the six Sundays during this time do not count as days of fasting - Sundays are always a day of celebration as we remember the resurrection.

Many people, even those with little or no church contact, will give something up for Lent - often this will be chocolate, although in recent years we have been encouraged to be a little bit more imaginative, giving up things like Facebook or television. Within some cultures it is common to go without fish for Lent. Other cultures with have different traditions. This 'doing without' builds on the fasting element that is traditionally a part of Lent.

Another trend over recent years has been to see Lent as a time to do something positive instead of/as well as giving something up. As we look ahead to God's love and generosity displayed in the Easter story it motivates us to be loving and generous.

The 40Acts campaign has been running for a number of years now and encourages those who sign up to complete 40 acts of generosity over the 40 days of Lent. To make a difference in our communities by performing little acts of kindness that can make a real difference in people's lives. 

If you want to know more or you want to sign up click here to visit the 40Acts website.

Do Lent Generously

You may still be struggling to get back into your normal routine after the Christmas break, and Easter seems a long way off, but in two weeks' time it will be Ash Wednesday (10 February) and the first day of Lent.

Depending on your church background you may have little experience of Lent. If you go to an Anglican church, for example, it may surprise you to know that in some other denominations no reference will be made to Lent at all. I grew up going to church twice on a Sunday, and although I remember Pancake Day, I doubt there was ever any reference to Lent.

So just in case you need some background here is a quick summary.

Lent is the time in the church calendar that runs from Ash Wednesday through to Easter. Traditionally Lent is the period of preparation in the run up to the events of Easter - the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. A time of reflection and repentance - which in certain church traditions is often accompanied by fasting.

Lent lasts for 40 days but if you've looked at a calendar you will have noticed that there are actually 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. That's because the six Sundays during this time do not count as days of fasting - Sundays are always a day of celebration as we remember the resurrection.

Many people, even those with little or no church contact, will give something up for Lent - often this will be chocolate, although in recent years we have been encouraged to be a little bit more imaginative, giving up things like Facebook or television. Within some cultures it is common to go without fish for Lent. Other cultures with have different traditions. This 'doing without' builds on the fasting element that is traditionally a part of Lent.


Another trend over recent years has been to see Lent as a time to do something positive instead of/as well as giving something up. As we look ahead to God's love and generosity displayed in the Easter story it motivates us to be loving and generous.




The 40Acts campaign has been running for a number of years now and encourages those who sign up to complete 40 acts of generosity over the 40 days of Lent. To make a difference in our communities by performing little acts of kindness that can make a real difference in people's lives. 

If you want to know more or you want to sign up click here to visit the 40Acts website.

What is Lent all about?

This week I have been asked what resources we have for children to do with Lent, I have been asked what I have given up for Lent, and I have done a Shrove Tuesday assembly at a local primary school. I was also talking with an Anglican vicar who had just come from his kitchen where he was busy turning palm crosses to ash in his oven.

If you want to find out about Lent, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, pancakes etc. don't go looking in your Bible. These are traditions that have grown up around the church and have been affected by culture and society - which could also be said of a lot of other things we do, by the way. And this is partly the reason why different parts of the church do things differently - and why some churches may do nothing at all. Also churches in different parts of the world may have a different view on Lent depending on their culture. For example, churches in parts of the world where Ramadan is a prominent feature in the annual calendar may be much more likely to see Lent as a time of fasting than churches in other parts of the world.

But what most, if not all, of the customs will have in common is that they see Lent as a time of preparation and reflection in the lead up to Easter. The forty days, comes from the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness, fasting and being tempted.

Lent (in the western church) begins on Ash Wednesday (which was 9 March this year) and runs for 40 days (not including Sundays - which are days of celebrating the resurrection) up to and including Easter Saturday.

Many people will use Lent as an opportunity to fail again at their new year's resolutions by giving up chocolate, television or Facebook. But many churches promote the time as a time of learning and preparation - not through giving something up (although that may be beneficial) but through taking additional time to read and reflect on parts of the Bible.

One online resource, and part of the Bible Fresh initiative (as is E100 which we are already following as a church) is called the Big Read. It encourages us to read Matthew's gospel together (either as groups who actually meet together, or by making use of groups on the internet with chat rooms, forums and blogs etc.)



I know we're already three days into Lent, but maybe this is something you might want to get involved in.

To find out more click here

Carbon Fast

I did not plan that I would be speaking about Fasting the Sunday before Lent, in fact it wasn't until last week that I even realised Lent started on 17 February. For many Christians Lent is a season of fasting and self-denial as part of our preparation in the run up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. When the Bible talks about fasting it is primarily the act of giving up food and/or drink for a time, for a spiritual reason - more about that next week.



But I think we can broaden our approach to include other things. This year Tear Fund are running an interesting campaign aimed at getting us to cut our use of Carbon during Lent. For more details click here.

What are you giving up for Lent?

Lent is the time in the Christian calendar when Christians prepare for Easter. Traditionally it has been a time of fasting as Christians contemplate again the sacrifice that Jesus made for us, and as we remember his love for us. Shrove Tuesday - Pancake Day - is the last opportunity before this period to use up all those goodies in the kitchen. Ash Wednesday then marks the beginning of the 40 day Lent period (Sundays are not included in the 40 days - as these are days of celebration).

For many Lent is still a time to give something up - usually chocolate, alcohol or television. But how about this year doing something a little different? Christian Aid's Lent resource encourages us to count our blessings and do something to help the world's poor. Each day in their Lent programme has an activity. For example:

More than a billion children will not go to school this year. Give 20p for every year you have spent in full time education.

Other activities provide prayer points to pray for the world's poorest communities.

This resource can be downloaded at http://www.christianaid.org.uk/Images/countyourblessings.pdf

Why not download a copy and count your blessings as you prepare yourself to remember again the death and resurrection of Jesus.