What is Lent?
Lent is a season of preparation leading up to Easter. It is the forty days plus the six Sundays before Easter. For centuries, it has been observed as a special time of self examination and penitence. Lent is a time for concentration on fundamental values and priorities, and is not a time for self punishment.
If you have found yourself away from church and wondered about giving it another try, Lent is the perfect time. For centuries, Lent has offered people a chance to try the fellowship of the church one more time. In fact, Lent developed as a way to receive people back into church. If you are questioning your own faith and wondering what you believe, this could be the perfect time to come back to church.
Observing Lent
The
custom is to mark the season of Lent by giving up some things and taking
on others. Both can serve to mark the season as a holy time of preparation.
Some examples of things people give up for Lent include sweets, meat for
all or some meals, and alcohol. In most cases, giving up something for Lent
can be made more meaningful by using the money or time for another purpose.
For example, meal times on fast days could be spent in prayer. Another example
is that if you give up meat during Lent, the extra money that would go to
meat dishes can be given to a group such as a local food bank to help feed
others. Some things added during Lent are daily Bible reading, fasting on
Fridays, times of prayer, taking a course of study related in some way to
spirituality.
Note that the season of Lent is forty days plus the six Sundays. This is because Sundays are celebrations of Jesus’ resurrection and are always an appropriate day to lessen the restrictions of Lent. So that if you have, for example, given up chocolate for Lent, you could indulge in a weekly candy bar on Sunday.
Lent
is also an especially appropriate time for the sacrament of confession. While
confession to a priest is not required to receive God’s forgiveness, it can
be a meaningful rite of reconciliation to God. Fr. Tobola has scheduled Holy
Saturday April 11, 1 pm for hearing confessions at St. Barnabas.You may also contact him to arrange for an appointment to
hear your confession at any time. Click
here for more about confession preparation.
Stations of the Cross
This is a service that's done at church one day a week during Lent, typically on Wednesdays or Fridays. You will notice inside the church the plaques or carvings of Jesus on the wall. These are depictions of 14 incidents in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ death from Pilate’s house to being placed in the tomb. They are used for the service called the Way of the Cross, which visits each station in turn with a brief bible reading, response, a prayer and on some occasions, a meditation. In the early days, people used to really walk to those places in the Holy Land where these events took place. As Christianity spread around the world, it became impractical to expect people to make these pilgrimages, so they use the wall carvings/plaques in the churches to represent these places. It's a way to walk and meditate on what Jesus went through on his way to Calvary.
Stations of the Cross each Wednesday, February 24 - March 24 beginning at 7 PM.
A light supper will be offered beginning at 6:15.
Unable to be at St. Barnabas for Stations of the Cross? Here is an on-line version using the same text from our booklets alongside images taken of the Stations hanging in our sanctuary. The Way of The Cross. The beautiful Stations were done in the Southwest New Mexico retablo-style and were created by local iconographer and parishoner, Jane Ladik. Click here to listen to Jane explain about these beautiful pieces of art.
Ash
Wednesday
The first day of Lent is marked with a special liturgy. The theme for the day, though not for all of Lent, is that we stand as sinners condemned to die, but for God’s grace. This is symbolized by the imposition of ashes on the forehead, with the words, "You are dust and to dust you shall return." In the Old Testament, ashes were a sign of penitence (feeling regretful at offenses) and mourning.
Ash Wednesday is one of two days of special observance (the other being Good Friday) for which fasting is recommended. While this usually refers going without food for the entire day, this practice is not practical for all persons, including, but not limited to, diabetics. Use your own discretion in determining how you can best observe this day.
To help prepare, we recommend David Mills’s article The Dust of Adam from Touchstone archives. The article won an honorable mention from the Associated Church Press in its Best of the Christian Press 2004 awards.
Ash Wednesday service is February 17 at 7:00 p.M.
Holy Week
Palm
Sunday
This Sunday before Easter is the last Sunday in Lent. The day commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem with a blessing of palms and a procession in which the whole congregation carries palms. The day is also marked by reading the story of Jesus’ passion (the word used to describe Jesus’ death comes from "suffering," which is one old meaning of passion). Some of the Palm Sunday palms are kept and used to make the Ash Wednesday ashes for the next year.
Palm Sunday service Is at 10 a.M. on March 28th.
Maundy Thursday
This
is the Thursday in Holy Week (the week leading up to Easter). The day is
a time for remembering The Last Supper. The name comes from the Latin word "Maundatum" for "commandment" as
Jesus said, "I give you a new commandment; that you love one another." At
the conclusion of this service, altars are stripped of any ornamentation
and crosses are removed or veiled to mark the solemnness of the occasion.
This service also has a foot washing, which comes from the Gospel of John
(13:3-11) where Jesus washes the feet of his disciples to demonstrate that
he was about to become the servant of all humankind through his death on
the cross the next night. Following the Maundy Thursday Service, there will
be an Altar of Repose for those to spend some meditative, quiet time before
they leave. Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray and asked his
disciples if they could wait with him for an hour.
Maundy Thursday service is at 7:00 p.M. on April 1st.
Good Friday
The
Friday in Holy Week is a time for remembering Jesus death. Traditionally
there is a Good Friday service at noon as Jesus hung on the cross from noon
until 3 p.m. There may also be an evening service. This is the second day
of special observance for which fasting is recommended. One should use discretion
in decided how best to observe this day. There is no celebration of Communion
from Maundy Thursday until the Easter Vigil on late Saturday or early Sunday.
However, it is customary in many churches to give out the elements of communion
blessed during the Maundy Thursday service. This service includes the reading
of the Passion and extra prayers, called “Solemn Collects” as well as a Veneration
of the cross. Opportunity is given for those who would like to kiss (venerate)
the cross in adoration to Jesus for atoning for our sins on the cross.
Good Friday service is at 7:00 P.M. on April 2nd.
Holy Saturday
Holy Saturday is chiefly a day of solemn vigil (watch).
Jesus
was crucified on Friday, the Jewish "Preparation Day" (the day
before the Sabbath). Because the next day was the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea
and Nicodemus petitioned Pilate for Jesus' body to be removed from the cross.
They placed Jesus' body in the tomb and wrapped it in linen and spices, in
accordance with Jewish burial customs. On Holy Saturday the chief priest
and the Pharisees went to Pilate. They recalled that while Jesus was still
alive he had said "After three days I will rise again." Pilate
gave the order that the tomb be sealed and guards posted until the third
day so Jesus' disciples could not come and steal the body away and tell the
people that he has been raised from the dead.
Holy Saturday is the day between Jesus' death and His resurrection.
It is the day of watchful expectation, in which mourning is being transformed
into joy. Christ is laying in the tomb, therefore the church is in prayer
at this time.
Hearing of confession by Fr. Tobola is on April 3rd beginning at 1pm.
Easter Sunday
Alleluia,
Christ is Risen! We celebrate the feast of Christ's resurrection. Our customs
and traditions are mere reflections of our joy in respect to Jesus' triumph
over death. Easter Sunday is now the time to light the Paschal candle that
stands near the lectern. The candle represents the bursting forth of Christ
from the tomb to be the light of the world once more and forever. The Easter
season lasts for 50 days.
Easter Egg Hunt
From
the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Eggs
were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly
by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers. Children of
all ages enjoy finding Easter eggs in a basket when they wake up in the morning.
Our Easter service is April 4th at 10 a.M.
There is an Easter Egg hunt following the service
Lenten Resources
We encourage you to read a good book and explore other on-line resources to learn more about the Lenten season. The following sites are a good starting point.
Fr. Gregg Riley of Grace Church in Monroe, LA explains the gift of a sacramental confession in his article, Lent, A Time for Confession.
Prepare for Easter's Joy— This link is especially useful for those whose past faith traditions did not include the liturgical season of Lent. Helps one to really experience Easter morning in a whole new way.
Getting
into the rhythm of Lent—Richard Chartres, Anglican Bishop of London,
preaches a sermon for the beginning of Lent.
Sacred Space - Daily prayer for Lent by the Irish Jesuits. Spend a few minutes at your computer with Lenten meditations for the days of Lent.
Bitter Journey - The Way of the Cross is a multi-media presentation of a series of scenes from Jesus' passion and death from beliefnet.com.
Stations of the Cross
Here are some sites that offer an on-line version of the stations. Click on the picture or the text link below it to view each of these sites.
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