Thursday 3 February 2011

Lent is coming

Lent starts in just over four weeks. Shrove Tuesday is 8th March. I’m going to try to follow Love Life Live Lent this year. This is a set of activities - one per day - to encourage people to make a difference. Have a look at the web site www.livelent.net.

There are lots of other Lent activities available. The Christian Aid one has daily activities that make one think about one’s blessings compared with the rest of the world. The website of the Woodlands Junior School in Kent always comes near the top of the list when I Google festivals like Advent and Lent although they haven’t yet updated their page since last year. The have some interesting facts about lent including the significance of the number 40 in the bible:
  • The rain lasted for 40 days in the mighty flood - Noah
  • Moses stayed on the Mount Sinai forty days (Ex 24:18)
  • Jonah gave the people of Ninevah forty days to repent (Jon 3:4)
  • Jesus, before starting his ministry, spent forty days in the desert in prayer and fasting (Matt 4:2)

The Live Life Live Lent site also has some facts about Lent: The word ‘Lent’ appears to have its beginnings in Anglo-Saxon, where the word means to lengthen, indicating that days are getting longer and spring is coming.

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