The Season of Lent

.

.

The season of Lent, beginning with Ash Wednesday, is devoted to an intensive study of the Passion of Christ, this feature becoming unusually pronounced in Holy Week, with the culmination in the great happening of Good Friday, in the death and burial of Christ. The length today of the Lenten season is for forty days. While such a period is indicated as early as the third century, Apostolic Tradition, its length is indefinite prior to Nicaea. Thereafter it is spoken of as the fast of forty days and spans a period of six weeks with prior to Easter (as in Rome and fourth-century Alexandria) or prior to Holy Week (as in Syria, Constantinople, and eventually all the Eastern churches). In the early church the Lenten season was a time for the catechumens to make preparations for baptism, but by the end of the fourth century in the West it was also a period for the ritual of humiliation of the penitent. This led to the Christian liturgical traditions that observe the Lenten fast experience as a time of "dying to self," so as to participate fully in the renewal of life in the celebration of Christ's resurrection. The custom of fasting during Lent started at a very early date, but the length of the fast varied, eight days being customary at first, but the time was extended to forty days, after the analogy of the period included in the Lord's temptation, Matt. 4:2. Gregory II, is said to have fixed the Wednesday now known as Ash Wednesday (from the custom of daubing the foreheads of the worshipers on that day with the ashes of last year's palms, in token of mourning) as the first day of Lent in order to secure uniformity of observance throughout the Church. The season of preparation for Easter closed with the Great or Black Week, also known as the Holy Week.

.

The Thursday of Holy Week commemorated the institution of the Holy Supper. Since the Gospel of the day was John 13:1-15 , the day was also known as the Day of Foot Washing. Its present English name of Maundy Thursday is derived either from the words of the Gospel lesson: "Mandatum novum do vobis," or from the custom of carrying gifts to the poor in maund(y) baskets on that day.

.

Good Friday, almost from the first, was the Day of the Cross, a day of deepest mourning, with a compete fast till 3 or 6 o'clock in the afternoon. In some churches no form of service was prescribed for Good Friday, the faithful merely came together for silent prayer.

.

.

Lenten Wreath

.

.

The Lenten Wreath, made of rose vines and thistle, represents the "Crown of Thrones' placed upon our Lord's head by Pontius Pilate when he mockingly proclaimed Him to be "The King of the Jews". There are six white candles--one lit consecutively each of the six weeks in Lent--and one black candle that is lit on Good Friday, and three nails depicting the nails used to place Christ upon the cross.

.

.

.

.

Lenten Tree Cross

.

.

The large Tree Cross , in the front of the church, is made from the trunk of a Christmas Tree that was used here at Historic Trinity during the Christmas Season. This worship aid helps to demonstrate us that Jesus Christ the Son of God who's birth we celebrate at Christmas, came into the world and took on the form of the Son of Man, that He might lay down His life upon the Cross as the Lamb of God in payment for the sins of all persons. Mary His Mother, and John the Disciple, are represented by the two figures who are standing before the cross.

.

.

.

.

.

Historic Trinity Lutheran Church1345 Gratiot Avenue Detroit, Michigan 48207

. .

.
.
.
.

One night a man had a dream.

.

He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD.

.

Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.

.

For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand:

.

one belonging to him, and the other to the LORD.

.

.

.
.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him,

.

he looked back at the footprints in the sand.

.

He noticed that many times along the path of his life

.

there was only one set of footprints.

.

.

.

.

He also noticed that it happened

.

at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.

.

This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it:

.

"LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you,

.

you'd walk with me all the way.

.

But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life,

.

there is only one set of footprints.

.

I don't understand why when I needed you most,

.

you would leave me."

.

.

.

.

The LORD replied:

.

"My son, my precious child,

.

I love you and I would never leave you.

.

During your times of trial and suffering,

.

when you see only one set of footprints,

.

it was then that I carried you."

.
.

.

The text describes a someone's dream, in which the person is walking on a beach with the Lord. Naturally, they leave two sets of footprints in the sand behind them. Looking back, the tracks are stated to represent various stages of this person's life. At some points the two trails dwindle to one, especially at the lowest and most hopeless moments of the character's life. When questioning the Lord, believing that the Lord must had abandoned his follower during those times, the Lord, gives the true explanation: 'During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you'.

.

While critics may dispute the literary merits of the piece, it remains enormously popular, especially among American Christians. There are multiple variations of the text.While most variations of the poem are in third-person, with a male playing the role of the Lord's follower, original editions, particularly that of Margaret Fishback Powers, have written it in first person. All claimed authors, except Burrell Webb, are ironically female. The publisher received the poem with instructions from the author to publish with the (author unknown.) it was published in third person.