Do you ever wonder about the season of LENT? What it means? Well, here are a few quick facts that we hope will enlighten! Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism.
Lent is a forty-day period before Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday. We skip Sundays when we count the forty days, because Sundays commemorate the celebration of the Resurrection. In many countries, the last day before Lent (called Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, Carnival, or Fasching) has become a last fling before the solemnity of Lent.
During the 2012 Lenten season your Canada Pacific District SDMI (Sunday School and Discipleship Ministries International) are sponsoring a special opportunity for congregations across the District to join together in this season of contemplation, reflection and acts of kindness. The calendar is intended to be a resource as well as a call to action. A selection of scriptures and a list of potential “Acts of Kindness” has been provided to serve as a springboard that will help you enter into and engage in acts of caring, kindness and tangible expressions of “being” Christ in our neighbourhoods. Record your actions on your calendar and, if you’d like, take a moment and post a note below this section telling others how the season impacted your faith. Your posting may just be the source of encouragement someone else needs to spur them on to a life of selfless service to our Lord.
