We are a Protestant, Evangelical family that observes Lent, to some degree for the last several years. This has helped our family prepare mentally and spiritually for the most important day of the Church Calendar, Easter.
Usually we start off on Fat Tuesday with some special kind of pancakes. This year it was BLUEBERRY!
On Ash Wednesday, we try to go to a lunchtime worship service.
Click here to see what our family has used the last few years for Lent study. This works great for all aged children and is easy to use. Great for homeschooling families or families that want to begin family worship. This year I have decided to skip the coloring the tree part and we made our own tree. I got 40 sparkly eggs from the Dollar Tree that had ribbons tied on. Everyday of Lent we will put an egg on our tree while we do our study. Remember, Sundays don't count, since they are "Little Easters" anyway!
A few other things we do during the 40 days are make or buy yummy pretzels. We usually have a little bowl that we collect a special offering in and after Easter we give it to a special ministry or mission.
On Good Friday, we put a black tablecloth on the table and early Easter morning, I replace it with a white one.
Kae-Kae is starting her third year of wearing a black bracelet to remind her of Christ's sacrifice during this time.
How do you celebrate Lent?
Heather
Since you worded your post the way you did, and since I hopefully know you well enough to say this without sounding like an ogre in your ears, I must comment. You said, "We are a Protestant, Evangelical family that observes Lent" which begs the question WHY? You later say Sundays don't count since they are "little Easters" anyway. I guess I'm just curious why so many Protestants, whom I know are orthodox, want to celebrate the Church calendar aka the Roman church calendar. SUNDAYS are a special day set aside EACH WEEK for us to celebrate Christ's birth, death, and resurrection. So why the emphasis on the Catholic church's way of celebrating? I'm genuinely asking, Heather, because I want to understand. [You know me but let me say this for your other readers--I say and ask this lovingly.]
ReplyDeleteAudrey- fair question. This is the way Kingdom Arrows considers Lent and Advent. The classic Church calendar and liturgical patterns way pre-date the Roman Catholic Church. We are part of the whole Church -- united in Christ's blood with "so great a cloud of witnesses (Heb 12)" back even to the OT Church but particularly with the early and Patristic church and even the non-Reformed Church of today, like lots of broad Evangelicals. Lent and other Church calendar patterns were well established long before the "Roman Catholic Church" morphed into its classic and most doctrinally noxious state and stance (AD 1,000 to 1517) to which Luther and the gang of Reformers responded. We are not ready to throw out all of Athanasius and Augustine and the Patristic gang. We feel that Lent and other classical Christian feasts in the Western Church are fine ways to focus our heart on Christ and His benefits in the Gospel. Who knows, we might even learn how better to love and worship our Triune God from modern Chinese, Indian, or African Christians of the 21st Century. So, we don't view this as a "Catholic' thing, rather a way to set apart special days to serve others and focus on Christ more.
ReplyDeleteHi Heather! Not about Lent, but about birds! We have our first Spring migrator - Red-winged Blackbird! Just had to share our excitement! LOL After months of the SAME species of birds we have a new one to add to our Tweet and See!
ReplyDeleteJessy