Every year, millions of Christians around the world begin the Easter season by celebrating Lent. Lent is a period of forty days, not including Sundays, that runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. The forty days of Lent are to commemorate the forty days that Jesus fasted in the wilderness before beginning his earthly ministry, and is meant to help Christians spiritually prepare for Easter.
Christians start the Lenten season by celebrating Ash Wednesday, where during evening services they receive the mark of the cross on their forehead. The cross is created from ashes made from the burned palms used from the previous year for Palm Sunday, and combined with olive oil. The ashes are to remind us of the passage in Genesis 3:19 which states that "for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." It also reminds us that we are nothing without the Lord, and that we are to look to the cross of Jesus to live.
During this forty day period, Christians will often abstain from things such as meat, sugar, alcohol or tobacco. They will also seek to do things that will help bring them closer to Christ, such as serving others, giving alms, seeking to pray more fervently, or reading more from the scriptures. One my favorite activities is to take up a study of the events of Holy Week in preparation for Easter. This helps me spiritually prepare and to focus more on the true meaning of Easter, and less on Easter eggs and candy.
Over the next 40 days I will produce several videos about the significant events of Holy Week. Within these videos I will show you some of the traditional Holy Week sites in Israel, and will also use an incredible new app designed by BYU to help bring first century Jerusalem to life. The app is one of the first of its kind, in that it allows you to actually wander around the ancient temple of Jerusalem, and to visualize significant locations of the New Testament.
I hope you will join me this year in celebrating Lent, by not only taking up a study of the events of Holy Week, but also by seeking for opportunities to serve others as you prepare for Easter this year.
