Lent and Easter

17/03/04

The date of Easter Sunday changes every year. In the period leading up to it the Church prepares for this, its most holy day, with traditions based on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Individual churches differ in their customs, the most widely practised are explained here.

Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday is popularly known as Pancake Day. This is because people used to use up the ‘luxury’ items in their store cupboards on the Tuesday before they began a period of fasting during Lent. Those luxuries were flour and eggs, two of the main ingredients of pancakes!

Shrove Tuesday is also, traditionally, a day of penitence when people make their confession (they are shriven) in preparation for the observance of Lent.

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent, the period of forty days before Easter. It is so called because of the Church’s tradition of making the sign of the cross on people’s foreheads, as a sign of penitence and of Christian witness. The ash is made by burning palm crosses from the previous year and is usually mixed with a little holy water or oil.

Lent

Lent is a time of preparation before Easter and is a season in the Church’s calendar because of the ancient practice of preparing candidates for their Baptism at Easter. It lasts for forty days (excluding Sundays) and is traditionally a period when people deepen their understanding of their Christian calling by undertaking prayer, study or service to the community.

For more information about Lent, see the Bishop of London’s Ash Wednesday sermon.

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday marks Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The scene is recalled by the use of palm crosses and often by a procession through the streets. Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy Week.

Holy Week and Easter

During Holy Week we remember the last days of Jesus’ earthly life; each event contributes to the whole, eventually leading to the crucifixion and resurrection.

Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday sees the start of the Holy Three Days which leads to Easter itself. The readings during Holy Communion tell of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet as an example of humility, love and mutual service. It is the night of the Last Supper, when Jesus gave thanks to God, blessed bread and wine and shared it with his disciples: the basis for Holy Communion as practised by the Church ever since.

In many churches Maundy Thursday will be the last time Holy Communion is celebrated until Easter. As a symbol of Christ’s stripping prior to crucifixion we remove much of the church’s decoration and altar and church are left bare. Often the Blessed Sacrament – the consecrated bread and wine – is reserved in a side chapel, which for tonight is Gethsemane, the garden where Jesus prayed and was later arrested. We then wait, as did the disciples, in a night-time vigil.

Good Friday

Christ is crucified. Between noon and 3pm we hear readings and preaching about the Cross. The Cross is venerated in the tradition of the earliest Christians. The Sacrament is brought back from the side chapel and the congregation is invited to receive Communion. We leave the church in silence and wait, perhaps experiencing the same sorrow as Jesus’ first disciples.

Holy Saturday: The Paschal Vigil and First Eucharist of Easter

The vigil begins with a darkened church. Outside a fire is burning and from that a single, large candle is lit, representing Christ as the light of the world. As it is brought into the church the darkness is dispersed and the congregation light their own candles as a sign of sharing in the new life of Christ. In many places the Easter Proclamation is sung in celebration of the Resurrection.

The service then moves into a period of reflection on readings from the Old Testament recounting God’s saving acts, contemplative psalms and collects. Following this the church is filled with the sound of bells and music and the Gloria in Excelsis Deo – a hymn of God’s praise – is sung, leading into the triumphal ‘alleluia’ of the Gospel of the Resurrection.

Later, we are reminded of our own Baptism and our baptismal promises are renewed. Often the congregation is sprinkled with holy water as a sign of Baptism. The Eucharist then continues in celebration of the first Easter.

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday is the focus and culmination of Lent and Holy Week. On it we celebrate Christ’s resurrection and it is the greatest feast day of the Church. The churches are resplendent with flowers and the bells peal in celebration.

Lent Broadcasting

BBC Radio 4 – Seven Last Words

BBC Radio 4 (92-95 FM and 198 LW) is broadcasting a series of talks for Lent on Sunday evenings. The talks reflect on the ‘seven last words’ of Christ: the last seven sayings of Jesus from the Cross as recorded by the Gospel writers.

The broadcasts are on Sunday evenings at 17.40 from 29th February and previous talks are available to read and to listen to online.

29th February

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” by Peter Malone, President of the World Catholic Association for Communications.

7th March

“Woman, behold, your son!” by Sarah Jane Boss, Director of the Centre for Marian Studies at the University of Wales.

14th March

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” by Anne Atkins, novelist.

21st March

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” by Rabbi Dan Cohn-Sherbok, Professor of Judaism at the University of Wales.

28th March

“I thirst” by Grace Davie, Professor of the Sociology of Religion in Exeter.

4th April

“It is finished” by Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Easter Broadcasting

The BBC is broadcasting a range of programmes over Easter including live worship from Spring Harvest in Skegness, one of the largest annual Christian teaching holidays, and, on the tenth anniversary of democracy in South Africa, John Bell of the Iona Community reflecting on the country's recent history. Click here for full details.