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Ash Wednesday Art 40 days of Lent: A journey to the Cross
Ash Wednesday, this year on Feb. 22, begins the holy journey to the Cross that we call Lent. It is a time to put away the cares of the world and to follow our Lord and Savior to Jerusalem, to Calvary, to the Tomb. A time to prepare our hearts, minds, bodies and souls to accept the great sacrifice that Jesus made for us. If we keep a Holy Lent, then the true meaning and joy of Easter permeates our life in fullness, because we have journeyed to the death that is Calvary; the sacrifice that is the Cross. We are thus empowered to the new life of the Resurrection.

In the penitential season of Lent, the Church asks the faithful to lay aside our own concerns and to remember what the price of Easter was and is. The Crucifixion of the only Son of God! Many Christians adopt a three-fold discipline of prayer, fasting and almsgiving in Lent. This year, St. Andrew’s is offering several ways to help you in your Lenten devotions.

Prayer
It is important that we set aside a few minutes each day to be with our God; to look at our lives and to seek his will for us. You cannot follow Christ unless you take time to ask where he is going. The Daily Office, beginning on Page 35 of The Book of Common Prayer, offers and excellent pattern for daily prayer, including special prayers for Lent.

Fasting
Fasting is not a popular concept in our time. Dieting is, but fasting is not. Perhaps that is because we do not understand why we do it. In Lent, we fast in two ways. The first is known to most of us. We “give something up” for Lent.

Giving up something is another way of saying fasting. We fast from something. We generally give up something that we know we will miss so that the absence of it, the desire for it, will keep in our minds the sacrifice that Christ made for us: His very life. What we give up is not nearly so important as that we do give up something that we will miss. Sundays are feast days in Lent; a time when we can splurge a little and have what we gave up. This is because Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, when our Lord’s life was restored to him.
In addition to this kind of fasting, there are two fast days in the Anglican Church: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. On these days we are asked to abstain from solid food from dawn to dusk. Of course broth, tomato soup, water and beverages are fine. But we abstain from solid food so that at least two days out of a year we understand what it means to be hungry (something most Americans don’t often feel). This helps us to keep in mind the plight of those who don’t have enough to eat, and also focuses our attention on the need to be “hungry” for the Gospel.

Of course, young children and anyone with special medical problems should not attempt to fast. The rest of us can gain much spiritually by submitting ourselves to this discipline.

Study Lamb of God
Lent is also a time when we make time to learn more about the faith. This Lent, St. Andrew’s is offering a five-week parish-wide Lenten Study and Soup Supper Program.

The program will take a look at the five types of sacrifices required by God of the Jews in the Old Testament, and how Jesus has fulfilled each one of them forever. The program will be held at the church on Wednesdays from 6:15 to 8 p.m., Feb. 29 through March 28.

Each evening will begin with a simple supper of soup and salad, followed by a teaching by Fr. Ron Baird, after which participants will break into small group for discussion and reflection. In addition to adult groups, there will be a group for the youth of the parish, and a special program for the children.

Children's Lenten program to help kids encounter Christ
Children’s Ministry Director Val Bowser will lead our children, pre-school through fifth grade, in a special study she designed to help them encounter the risen Christ. During the first week’s session, entitled “The Call,” children will learn what it means to be “called,” and discover that Easter is a time when — if they listen very closely — they will hear a very special call, from a very special person, with a very special message, and a very special job for us to do.

Topics for the following four weeks are “The Confession,” “The Cleansing,” “The Creation,” and “The Commission.”

“My hope is not only to solidify the Easter story in (our children’s) minds, but to help them come to a better understanding of what it really means for them personally through their confession, Jesus’ cleansing, his new creation within them, and, ultimately, the Great Commission,” Val says

Click here to register for the Lenten Study and Soup Supper program and/or to sign up to help with child care, provide food or serve as a small group facilitator. Sign-up sheets for these activities are also available in the Gathering Area.

There are also a wealth of resources available at Christian book stores and on the web, some of which are listed under Recommended readings for Lent.

Almsgiving
Almsgiving is historically the giving of gifts or money to the poor. There are several opportunities available to the parish this Lenten season to aid us in this discipline.

We will continue to collect items for the needy each on the following schedule:

• February 26— Cereal, boxed dinners, mac ‘n cheese, pasta, etc.
• March 4 — Baby goods (Cereal, formula, diapers, etc.)
• March 11 — Canned goods (Meat, fish, vegetables, fruit and soups.)
• March 18— Paper products (Paper towels, toilet paper, napkins & tissues.)
• March 25— Cereal, boxed dinners, mac ‘n cheese, pasta, etc.

St. Andrew’s will also serve at the Common Ground Free Store in Delaware on Saturday, March 17. Why not join Ginny Ribbans and her crew of volunteers to help staff the store that morning, and serve a hot lunch to patrons at noon. E-mail Ginny at call at vribbans@sbcglobal.net for more information.

And, of course, our Parish Discretionary Fund can always use cash donations to help the poor and needy in our midst.

Baskets to collect items are in the Narthex. Contributions to the Discretionary Fund may be placed in the offering basket on Sundays. If you give cash, please place it in an envelope marked “Discretionary Fund”, and if you contribute via check, please mark “Discretionary Fund” in the memo section.

Come join us on this journey that is Lent. Walk with our Lord the steps to Calvary. And join with him in his glorious Resurrection!