Lent - can someone please explain it to me?

[Webstermum]

I am a Christian but still have a lot to learn. I find in my Church poeple assume you know & it's not really easy to ask questions. I don't understand Lent. Can someone please explain what it is, when it is & what you're supposed to do. I've heard people speaking about giving things up for lent but what & when & why?

It's not so very hard Webstermum. Lent is the 40 days before Easter, when the church is concentrating on the suffering (passion) of Christ. To prepare for Easter you can do all sorts of things: fasting is one way of doing so. You can 'fast' from all sorts of things, not just food, but also television. You can also do something positive, like reading a book, or going to a Lent course, which some churches organise. The main thing is that you concentrate on what Jesus has done for you through His death on the cross. hth

Jesus went into the desert for forty days and night where the devil tempted him 3 times
Lent is also about not giving into temptation and remembering what Jesus gave up for us

Lent is a time for preparing for Easter - the most important event in the church year.
It's not just about giving things up, but about doing extra things (saying extra prayers, going to confession) in readiness for the big day!
Lent is to Easter what Advent is to Christmas!

Oh dear I have so much to learn - no wonder my Rev is always asking me to come to Bible Study! Thanks Mersman your last commet sums it up perfectly Things like this make me feel like I'm not a very good Christian I talk to God a lot & go to Church but I'm not very good at reading my Bible - maybe I should give up something for lent & read my Bible instead

Lent is also about giving up having your own way - doing tiny favours for people, being the one to go out in the rain to shut the banging door, or the one who puts the kettle on, or the one who makes food the rest of the family likes more than you do, or the one who gets the milk in... Just any little thing you can do for anyone else; it doesn't have to involve giving everything away, but it's training in self-sacrifice. Training in love, if you like.

Some traditions really emphasise fasting - Orthodox Christians give up meat, dairy and also olive oil - but I tend to find it works more for me if I spend less time thinking fo what I'd like to eat and my own little food fancies and finickiness.

Eventually, Jesus gave everything up. Everything. Out of love. In Lent we try to be loving as a way of loving him back. I say this because sometimes people think of Lent as gloomy, and it's really a time when we have a chance to give something back to God. Present-giving!

It culminates in Holy Week, when we mourn for the unjust and horrible death the innocent Jesus had to suffer, then celebrate his resurrection.

Webstermum you sound like a great Christian to me - TRYING to do better is what it's all about (and I need to join you in reading my bible more in lent... was wondering if we could start up some kind of bible study group in this section of mumsnet to spur us on? The religious equivalent of 'book of the month'??)

Lent is part of the Christian Calender, for the six weeks before Easter.

It starts on Ash Wednesday and runs until Maundy Thursday, and commemorates Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness.

Marking Lent is something that you do from Monday to Saturday throughout Lent. Sunday is always a day of celebration as that is when Jesus rose from the dead. This is how you square the 40 days into 6.5 weeks.

There are different Lenten traditions depending on which branch of the church you identify with.

For Anglicans, Lent is a time of giving something up that is difficult, and at the same time giving away (Almsgiving). For me personally, my perennial Lenten abstinence is my beloved wine. I give that up, and then the money I save, I use for Almsgiving. We try to have a Lent project at church, and we will do something that enables us to give money away, for example, "Sandwiches for Lent" means that you have sandwiches instead of a traditional Sunday roast - the money saved goes to our Lent project.

Other traditions may be more prescriptive about what exactly you give up, eg meat (but this is meaningless to a vegetarian, so not in the spirit of Lent).

Giving up something that is really hard is a way of drawing closer to God.

I like the idea of doing something positive at Lent, I hated Lent as a child, giving up sweets.
The Dcs save some of their pocket money and we buy chickens through Cafod or Oxfam for my mum at Easter.

Yes, unfit, the giving part is just as important as giving up.

Thank you all so much, i could have googled this but it is much more insightful & thought provoking to get your personal thoughts on this. I like the way you see it as a positive and not just about giving up something. I didn't know about the giving part either, although of course it makes sense after all that God gave to us.

Mersmam I love your idea for a Lent Bible Study on here - anyone else?

Perhaps we could begin it on Ash Wednesday? Any ideas on what we should look at anyone? Old testament or new?

Not to be a party pooper, but lent is not a idea in the bible, it has been made up by men in the 'church', Jesus was and Isrealite and kept the festivals of Jehovah, ie, passover etc.

Lent is a idea that has been cobbled together with a pagan holiday of easter (ask any of the pagans).

oh I am acutally a party pooper

I could probably lead you into the wilderness, but under my leadership we would end up eating bread made from rocks.

We did a bible study thread ages ago, I think it might have been in my previous MN incarnation, actually.

I'm a non-liturgical tradition Christian myself, but I'm with Paul on not having scruples about the matter, so Lent is as good a time as any to study scripture. Not sure what we'd do it on, though? In what sense would it be different from RW - same sort of open atmosphere, but looking very specifically at a passage? (which would rather lead to the question, which one?)

This is in no way intended to offend but I had assumed that Lent was similar to Ramadan, in terms of a period of time in which believers meditate on the themes of sacrifice (as in, to choose not to eat/not to eat certain things/give up certain things) and belief (a conscious rather than instinctive sense of things outside ourselves). As an atheist, I can still see the benefits in taking a time-out to reflect on that which makes us human and that which largely, throughout a diverse world, we regard to be good.

Does that make sense? Most of these periods do move according to a lunar calendar, but this seems an eminently sensible way of keeping track of them.

I have recently been thinking about trying to get back into the habit of a daily reflection time so if there were to be a group, I'd be interested in being part of it. Shall I watch this space...

count me in if it goes ahead.

I need to do something about my faith... and actually start going to church again. Did well in december and first few weeks of January, but due to ill health havent been since.

Thanks justabout but I am intending it to be scripture based. Even ordered myself some Bible notes but they started on 1st Feb and I haven't managed once yet...