Lent: An Invitation
Lent originated as a time of preparation for Easter, spanning 40 days (not including Sundays) from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday. The focus of Lent is repentance - a turning of our hearts, minds, and actions from ourselves to God. The Sundays in Lent are in the season but not of it, and are celebrated as "feast" days, traditionally days on which Lenten fasts are broken as we gather together for worship and to celebrate Christ's resurrection.
Purple, the color of Lent, signifies penitence and humility, and is meant to remind us of humanity's suffering under sin and of Christ's suffering on the cross - the color of a bruise. Purple is also the color of royalty and anticipates the coming Glory of Christ's resurrection on Easter. (adapted from our friends at All Saints Austin TX.)
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." Psalm 51:10
Advent | Christmas | Epiphany | Lent | Easter | Pentecost | Ordinary Time
Special Services during Lent
Ash Wednesday: Two services on Wednesday, Feb. 14 — 7am and 12pm
Ash Wednesday begins the Lenten season, a season in which we recall the sober biblical realities of our mortality: “You came from dust; and to dust you shall return.” A somber service to be sure, but one of unapologetic honesty about sin, sickness and death in a fallen world. Following Jesus involves honesty, not just about our mortality and limitations, but also a daily practice of repentance — a daily death.
Daily Prayer + Midweek Lenten Eucharist
Daily Prayer, Tuesdays, 9am; Thursdays, 12pm
Midweek Lenten Eucharist: *Wednesdays of Lent at 12pm: Service dates: February 21, February 28, March 6, March 20, and March 27
Palm Sunday - Sunday, March 24
Palm Sunday is the entrance into what is known in the Church as "Holy Week." It is also often called "Passion Sunday." At All Saints, we use both and call it "Sunday of the Passion - Palm Sunday." One really needs both titles in order to describe the events we mark on this day. We mark the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem with waving Palm branches, a celebration! But we also mark the entrance into Jerusalem as the final leg of his journey as he draws near to the cross, his passion. Join us on this day as the children lead us in worship with a Palm processional and as the color of the season changes from purple to red in preparation for all that is to come in Holy Week. (Adapted from All Saints Austin).
Maundy Thursday - Thursday, March 28 at 6:15pm
The word “Maundy” is from the Latin word “mandated” which means “command.” On Maundy Thursday, we remember when Jesus gave the command “A new command I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another” on the night in which Jesus washed the disciples feet. It’s a call to love the world just as God loves us through Christ. It is also the day Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, a sign of his great love for us.
Good Friday - Friday, March 29 at 6:15pm
Good Friday is the day in which we are caught up in the realities of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. On a Roman cross, Christ died for the ungodly. We look at the glorious horror of Good Friday, the darkest moment of human history and certainly of the Lenten journey, creating an intensification of our login for Easter joy.
Easter Sunday - Sunday, March 31
