Anyone going to celebrate lent?

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Church Calendar NOT Biblical

Paul in Galatians 4 states that he feels he may have labored in vain over them for they "keep the times and seasons and the festivals." Whether he is referring to pagan or Jewish matters is beside the point. They were NOT to do them, and he did not then immediately state that he had a fresh new set of times and seasons in a "church calendar" for them to follow.

In Colossians 2:20 - 24, he makes the point that "self made religion" (i.e. unwarranted worship) and asceticism provide NO VALUE in preventing indulgences of the flesh. They are a waste of time.

Besides, aren't we to reflect on our condition, recognize our weaknesses and mortality, and repent EVERY DAY? What makes the 40 days so special? Again, there is zero in the NT teaching this.

Chris Coldwell has some excellent material on observance of 'holy days', with some great references. Doug Kelly's article "No Church Calendar for Presbyterians" is also quite good. Sorry I don't have links, but Google should connect you to them quite quickly.

For Christ's Crown and Covenant,
 
Ya know y'all got a much better treatment than my church had. Which would be worse? to celebrate lent or to have a dumbed down children's sermon on Ash Wednesday. I couldn't even bring myself to go. I expected to see another variation on the baby talk cell phone commercial i've been seening on t.v.
 
[Bible]Colossians 2:16[/Bible]

:confused: What is your point?

Adam Clarke:

Col 2:16 - Let no man - judge you in meat, or in drink - The apostle speaks here in reference to some particulars of the hand-writing of ordinances, which had been taken away, viz., the distinction of meats and drinks, what was clean and what unclean, according to the law; and the necessity of observing certain holydays or festivals, such as the new moons and particular sabbaths, or those which should be observed with more than ordinary solemnity; all these had been taken out of the way and nailed to the cross, and were no longer of moral obligation. There is no intimation here that the Sabbath was done away, or that its moral use was superseded, by the introduction of Christianity. I have shown elsewhere that, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, is a command of perpetual obligation, and can never be superseded but by the final termination of time. As it is a type of that rest which remains for the people of God, of an eternity of bliss, it must continue in full force till that eternity arrives; for no type ever ceases till the antitype be come. Besides, it is not clear that the apostle refers at all to the Sabbath in this place, whether Jewish or Christian; his σαββατων, of sabbaths or weeks, most probably refers to their feasts of weeks, of which much has been said in the notes on the Pentateuch.

 
Today is "Ash Wednesday." I don't know what that means, really, but I think it's odd/funny that yesterday was "FAT Tuesday!" It's like, "Hey, let's go eat like pigs, drink ourselves silly and be really, really bad so we can confess everything tomorrow and be clean." I don't get that reasoning...but didn't G.K. Chesterton say something like, "Everyone should get drunk at least once a year. If the excessive wine doesn't do him good, the confession the next day will!" Or something like that...

My wife grew up Lutheran. We are now Evangelical Free, but really just followers of Jesus. At any rate, she gives something up each year from Ash Wednesday until Easter. It's usually bread. I don't think she does it just for spiritual reasons, but I bet there's something good about sacrificing something she loves and considering the feelings that go with that...

Your thoughts?

I think that for all of the excesses of Catholic theology we should be careful to be too sarcastic and reject the possibility of learning from one another. I am against the "Fat Tuesday" mentality as much as any protestant but perhaps their may be something beneficial to the ideas of "redemptive suffering" as we identify with our savior.

Certainly this is not a means of obtaining grace as Rome teaches BUT what of personal piety and reflection? What of the woman stricken with debilitating arthritis from childhood for whom the idea of identifying with Christ in His suffering may in some way offer a sense of solace and redemption to her pain? (this woman is one of my parishioners) This is the difference between theoretical and practical theology... praxis and practice...

I have a disdain for what many Catholic doctrines do to the hearts of Catholic people - placing them under a legalistic burden and leaving them in the chains of a radically different God than the one found in the pages of Scripture BUT again, in our haste to flee Rome should we not at least be willing take our valuables with us - even if only one suitcase full? :think:

I just presided over a very uplifting Ash Wednesday service that I am sure was just as much a real blessing to those present as it was to me. We sang hymns of redemption and I delivered a sermon about repentance not being stricken from our vocabulary but being a way of entering into a right relationship with God with our desperate need for grace in plain view.

As we see our need for repentance our need for grace is also illuminated. As we stand under the fount of forgiveness we become participants in the grace which God has given to us as we learn to share it with others. In other words, repentance is not about hanging our heads low as we recognize our sin but a door to a shared experience of grace in and through us.

Then we shared communion and departed. It was a good service.
No offence. I am sure your little service was "uplifting". But when you speak of "learning from Rome" Pastor, I would suggest we have learned plenty, many here are former Catholics or in my case Catholic Educated. Thanks but no thanks I have had enough of that swill.:2cents:
 
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I guess I don't understand the reasons behind it, giving up something you love for 40 days, what things do they give up..food? TV watching? watching sports? How about exercise?

But the entire time, they are saying to themselves..it's only 40 days..and the count down begins for when they can start up again..and how many of them after they have given it up really turn to Christ looking for Him to give them strength to avoid partaking of these things?
 
I think I may have mentioned this in another link before but Lent always reminds me of college.
A few Catholic members of the my football team would have the ash on the forehead
...like our fullback who loved to dip Copenhagen.
He gave up the Cope for Lent.
One day from down the hall I saw him walk into my room
I went in the room and couldn't find him
so I looked in my closet and there he was
with a big old dip in his mouth
I asked him if he thought God would never find him there
and he said...
"I was kinda hoping -but if a dumb old lineman found me I guess He could."

He later became a Baptist but...his wife won't let him partake of the Copenhagen. He is probably still in a closet sneaking some somewhere.
 
I'm missing the connection between "being moved ... to observe the forty days between Ash Wednesday and Easter as a time of fasting and prayer" (which means a particular external season) and what Lady Augusta has written (which is contrary to any externality).

So, what external force is it that "moves" you to perform such activities during certain seasons of the year?

I got the impression he was using the word "moved" in the sense of motivated, rather than forced or obligated.

Precisely. Motivation can come in a myriad of forms, internal or external (all under the onus of a sovereign God, of course).

I think you may be missing the key idea that Easter itself is unbiblical (not warranted in the Scriptures therefore ruled out by the regulative principal) so by neccessary consequence, Lent is unbiblical since it is tied with an unbiblical Holy-day. If you don't like the term unbiblical, than surely you would agree that it is sub-biblical at the least.
 
Whadya mean you don't celebrate Lent???? We started by celebrating Canival yesterday in Sunday School and I was chosen to play Jimmy the Shepherd in this years passion play.

Seriously though, I don't celebrate Lent. Why would I? I'm a Sagittarian.

Forgive me, I gave up honesty for Lent. ;) (No, really!)

:lol:

I was told I'd have to give up Bawb for lent. No can do.
 
Actually I celebrate lent often. I remember that I lent my sister a CD I never got back. I also lent some money to a friend once and never got that back either. Forget lent this year. I'm gonna celebrate loan.
 
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