Tell Me About …Where is the Large Candle?

The largest candle on the altar from Easter Sunday until the Sunday closest to the Ascension on the Christian liturgical calendar is known as the Paschal Candle, or the Christ Candle.
The Paschal Candle symbolizes the risen Christ. It is decorated with a cross, symbols of the resurrection, and the Greek letters "Alpha" and "Omega." The term "paschal" concerns Easter or Passover. At the Easter Vigil (night before Easter Sunday) or on Easter Sunday the candle is lighted with a new fire and placed on the altar. Its flame may be used to light the other two candles on the altar, which represent the New Testament Epistles and Gospels. The Paschal Candle is normally used only during the Great Fifty Days of Easter until it is finally extinguished on Ascension Day. After that, it is removed from the altar. [The Ascension is one of the most important days on the Christian liturgical calendar; it commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. Ascension Day is always Thursday (the fortieth day from Easter); in some churches it is commemorated on the subsequent Sunday, the Sunday before Pentecost.] When we commemorate that the resurrected bodily Jesus ascended, the Paschal candle is removed from the altar.
After the Easter season the Paschal Candle is typically used at baptisms, representing the new life in Christ that we share in baptism. (The newly baptized person is given a small baptismal candle that is lit from the Paschal Candle.) It may also be used in funerals as it is placed near the coffin as a symbol of resurrection life.
The large Paschal Candle has been removed from the altar and paced in the Sacristy awaiting its use again in baptism, a funeral, or the next Easter Season.  (8/9/06)

 

Tell Me About … Lent

Lent is a 40 day period before Easter.  It begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on the day before Easter.  Sundays are not included in counting the 40 days because Sundays commemorate the Resurrection.  In most churches, the colors for Lent are purple or blue, the colors of royalty.  Lent is a time for deeper spiritual reflection, repentance, and prayer.  Some people fast during Lent or give up something they enjoy.  Others take on extra discipleship during this time.  Lent originated in the early days of the Church as a time when the faithful rededicated themselves to God and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism.  Lent reminds us of Jesus' withdrawal into the wilderness for 40 days.  In many countries, the last day before Lent (called Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday) is a last fling before the reflective period of Lent.

Lent 101

1)     What is the meaning of the word “Lent”?

2)     When is the first day of Lent?

3)     How is Easter day determined?

4)     What are the three days prior to Lent called?

5)     Why does Lent continue for 40 days?

6)     Aren’t there more than 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter?

7)     When does Lent end?

8)     What is the name of the last week of Lent?

9)     What color do we use during Lent?

10)   What is the significance of Palm Sunday?

11)   What happened on Maundy Thursday?

12)   What happened on Good Friday?

13)   What was the original purpose of Lent?

14)   What three practices were traditionally a part of Lent?

15)   Why should we continue this ancient practice of Lent?

Read on to the next page …

 

 

1)     What is the meaning of the word “Lent”?  Spring-time

2)     When is the first day of Lent? Ash Wednesday which is always seven Wednesdays before Easter.

3)     How is Easter day determined? Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.

4)     What are the three days prior to Lent called? Carnival - which comes from a Latin phrase meaning “removal of meat.” Tuesday is of course called Shrove Tuesday or the more popular French term Mardi Gras which means Fat Tuesday.

5)     Why does Lent continue for 40 days? The number 40 is connected with many biblical events but especially with the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness.

6)     Aren’t there more than 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter? Sundays are not considered part of Lent since they are days of celebration of our Lord’s resurrection. In fact, each Sunday can be and probably should be remembered as “little Easters” and therefore a time to suspend the acts of self-denial and repentance.

7)     When does Lent end? Holy Saturday

8)     What is the name of the last week of Lent? Holy Week

9)     What color do we use during Lent? Purple

10)   What is the significance of Palm Sunday? This Sunday observes the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem that was marked by the crowds, who were in Jerusalem for Passover, waving palm branches and proclaiming him as the messianic king.

11)   What happened on Maundy Thursday? There are a variety of events that are clustered on this last day before Jesus was arrested that are commemorated in various ways in services of worship. These include the last meal together, which was probably a Passover meal, the institution of Eucharist or Communion, the betrayal by Judas (because of the exchange with Jesus at the meal), and Jesus praying in Gethsemane while the disciples fell asleep. Most liturgies, however, focus on the meal and communion as a way to commemorate this day.

12)   What happened on Good Friday? The church commemorates Jesus’ arrest (since by Jewish customs of counting days from sundown to sundown it was already Friday), his trial, crucifixion and suffering, death, and burial.

13)   What was the original purpose of Lent? Originally, Lent was the time of preparation for those who were to be baptized, a time of concentrated study and prayer before their baptism at the Easter Vigil, the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord early on Easter Sunday. But since these new members were to be received into a living community of Faith, the entire community was called to preparation. Also, this was the time when those who had been separated from the Church would prepare to rejoin the community.

14)   What three practices were traditionally a part of Lent? Penitential prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Some churches today still observe a rigid schedule of fasting on certain days during Lent, especially the giving up of meat, alcohol, sweets, and other types of food. Other traditions do not place as great an emphasis on fasting, but focus on charitable deeds, especially helping those in physical need with food and clothing, or simply the giving of money to charities.

15)   Why should we continue this ancient practice of Lent? Most Christian churches that observe Lent at all focus on it as a time of prayer, especially penance, repenting for failures and sin as a way to focus on the need for God’s grace. It is really a preparation to celebrate God’s marvelous redemption at Easter, and the resurrected life that we live, and hope for, as Christians. Lent is a way to place ourselves before God humbled, bringing in our hands no price whereby we can ourselves purchase our salvation. It is a way to confess our total inadequacy before God, to strip ourselves bare of all pretense to righteousness, to come before God in dust and ashes. It is a way to empty ourselves of our false pride, of our rationalizations that prevent us from seeing ourselves as needy creatures, of our "perfectionist" tendencies that blind us to the beam in our own eyes.
Through prayer that gives up self, we seek to open ourselves up before God, and to hear anew the call "Come unto me!" We seek to recognize and respond afresh to God’s presence in our lives and in our world. We seek to place our needs, our fears, our failures, our hopes, our very lives in God’s hands, again. And we seek by abandoning ourselves in Jesus’ death to recognize again who God is, to allow His transforming grace to work in us once more, and to come to worship Him on Easter Sunday with a fresh victory and hope that goes beyond the new clothes, the Spring flowers, the happy music.
It is a spiritual pilgrimage that I am convinced we must make one way or the other for genuine spiritual renewal to come. Perhaps during the Lenten season we should stop praying for others as if we were virtuous enough to do so. Perhaps we should take off our righteous robes just long enough during this 40 days to put ashes on our own heads, to come before God with a new humility that is willing to confess, "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner." Maybe we should be willing to prostrate ourselves before God and plead, "Lord, in my hand no price I bring; simply to the cross I cling." That might put us in a position to hear God in ways that we have not heard Him in a long time. And it may be the beginning of a healing for which we have so longed.

O Lord, begin with me. Here. Now.

Prepared by Rev. Sheryl Palmer for March 8, 2006 Lenten Lunch

 

Tell Me About …Taizé Worship

Founded after World War II in Taizé , France , Taizé worship is in a contemplative and worshipful style.  Through the liturgy, simple songs, scripture, and silence, worshippers are drawn close to Christ.  Worship space utilizes candles, incense, icons, and other items to increase one's awareness of Christ and to deepen one's own spirituality.  Come, share in this worshipful experience at Sunday@7 on Sunday, March 20.

Tell Me About … Paschal

We have referred to our Saturday before Easter event as the Paschal Breakfast and Easter Egg Hunt. “Paschal” is a reference to the Hebrew Passover.  In Exodus 12, the Israelites were instructed to place some of the blood from the slaughtered lamb over their doorway so that the angel of the Lord would pass over those homes whereas  he struck down the first born in all the homes of the Egyptians.    Jesus also passed over from death to life on this Saturday before Easter.

Tell Me About … Ascension Day

Ascension Day commemorates the ascension of Jesus into heaven (Acts 1:6-11) following His crucifixion and resurrection.  During the forty day period after His resurrection, He preached and intermingled with his apostles and disciples.

According to tradition, it was first celebrated in 68 A.D. however there is no written evidence of the Ascension Day feast until about 385.  For Catholics, Ascension Day is one of the six holy days of obligation on which mass must be attended.

Tell Me About … Pentecost

Pentecost is derived from the Greek “pentekost”, meaning fiftieth.  It is commemorative of the descent of the Holy Ghost on the apostles.  It is fifty days after Easter and ten days after Christ's ascension.  The Jews also celebrated fifty days after passover in a feast called Pentecost.  The Christians adopted the name from the Jewish festival.

The coming of the Holy Ghost was foretold by several of Christ's predecessors including John the Baptist and John the Beloved.  The full story of the day of Pentecost is recorded in Acts 2:1-6.  It was a day of great conversion, speaking in tongues, and baptism.  From this day, the early church grew from a band of unsure devotees to an evangelical movement of tremendous stature.

 

Catch the Spirit...Spread the Joy!