Blessed Lenten Time!

ONE of the greatest treasures of our church is the Church Year. It is not only independent of the civil year, but even from the natural seasons. We in the Southern Hemisphere celebrate Christmas in summer and Easter in autumn, thus showing that the Christian festivals are not essentially Christianized festivals of nature, but feasts commemorating the great facts of the history of salvation, the birth not of the light, but of Him Who is the Light of the world; the resurrection not of nature, but of Him Who triumphed over death against all laws of nature.

Lent is for us not what the name originally means, the time of the lengthening of days, spring (German: Lenz), but it is, or ought to be, to us who celebrate it in late summer and at beginning of autumn that which it was meant to be, the time of preparation for the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord on Easter Sunday.” (Full article found at: https://stjohnlutheranshellybeach.weebly.com/)

To prepare we take a season of 40 days to focus on our ongoing need to repent of our sins and our ongoing need for a Saviour from sin. It is a time for the whole church of fasting, of learning and using the written Word of God against the assault of Satan and a time of prayer. Lenten devotions are held to do this corporately, to provide an opportunity in our fast moving times. Therefore you are welcome to come to rest and meditate the Passion of Christ according to the Gospel of Matthew in our Lenten devotions at St. John’s Lutheran Parish on Friday evenings at 7pm.

“It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to You, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who overcame the assaults of the devil and gave His life as a ransom for many that with cleansed hearts we might be prepared joyfully to celebrate the Paschal feast in sincerity and truth.” Proper preface for Lent.