Lent at St. Martin’s
Dive into Lent. We promise you won’t be the same.
Lent is a season rich with meaning, and to help you dive in spiritually, we are offering a multitude of worship services, formation classes, and times to gather with other folks on the journey. Find out more about everything we’re doing below.
Go deep in your faith this season.
You won’t be the same when Easter comes.
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Early Christians observed “a season of penitence and fasting” in preparation for the Paschal feast, or Easter. The season now known as Lent (from an Old English word meaning “spring,” the time of lengthening days) has a long history. Originally, in places where Pascha was celebrated on a Sunday, the Paschal feast followed a fast of up to two days. In the third century this fast was lengthened to six days. Eventually this fast became attached to, or overlapped, another fast of forty days, in imitation of Christ's fasting in the wilderness. The forty-day fast was especially important for converts to the faith who were preparing for baptism, and for those guilty of notorious sins who were being restored to the Christian assembly. In the western church the forty days of Lent extend from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday, omitting Sundays. The last three days of Lent are the sacred Triduum of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.
Today Lent has reacquired its significance as the final preparation of adult candidates for baptism. Joining with them, all Christians are invited “to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word” (BCP, p. 265).
Many Christians will choose a special spiritual practice to maintain during Lent, either a fast or an added practice of some kind. If you would like to explore how to observe Lent this year, reach out to one of the clergy. They’ll be glad to walk you through it.
Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday
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Celebrated the day before Ash Wednesday, Shrove Tuesday is the final day before the 40-day period of Lent begins. Its name comes from the Germanic-Old English word “shrive,” meaning absolve. Because it comes directly before Lent, a season of fasting and penitence, this was the day that Christians would go to be “shriven” by their confessor. Shrove Tuesday also became a day for pre-fasting indulgence. We celebrate every year with an extravagent potluck in the Parish Hall.
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The first of the forty days of Lent, named for the custom of placing blessed ashes on the foreheads of worshipers at Ash Wednesday services. The ashes are a sign of penitence and a reminder of mortality, and may be imposed with the sign of the cross. Ash Wednesday is observed as a fast in the church year of the Episcopal Church. Imposition of ashes at the Ash Wednesday service is optional, but is deeply meaningful to many and we recommend giving it a try.
Lenten Fish Fry-days
We're doing something new for Lent this year! Each Friday of Lent, beginning February 27, St. Martin's will host a fish fry at 6 PM in the Parish Hall. We’ll share a meal and fellowship and close with a service of Evening Prayer.
Sundays in Lent
A Lenten Journey with Paul
Sundays at 9:15 AM in the Garden Room beginning February 22. Join Caitlyn and Mitch for an adult formation class examining the writings of Paul through the lens of Lenten devotion and practice. Paul's writings underpin so much of our understanding of the gospel as it was lived out in the early church. Join us as we examine these texts and the various communities to which they were written in a new light.
Contact Caitlyn Keith for more information.