Yesterday started the Christian season of Lent. If you are unfamiliar with Lent and the many special days that mark the spring calendar for Christianity here is a brief overview of when they take place and their meaning. I would encourage any follower of Christ to consider spiritual preparing their heart during this season of the year.
Christian Calendar of Events Spring 2015
Lent
When is it in 2015? Wednesday, Feb. 22nd and ends on Thursday, April 2nd
Simple Definition: A 46 day season of preparation for the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday.
Further Description:
Lent is an English word (stemming from an Anglo-Saxon word for “spring” and related to the English word “lengthen”) that refers to the penitential period preceding Easter. Early Christians felt that the magnitude of the Easter celebration called for special preparation. As early as the second century, many Christians observed several days of fasting as part of that preparation. Over the next few centuries, perhaps in remembrance of Jesus’ fasting for 40 days in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1–2, Mk 1:13), 40 days became the accepted length of the Lenten season. Since, from the earliest years of Christianity, it had been considered inappropriate to fast on the day of the resurrection, Sundays were not counted in the 40 days. Thus, the Wednesday, 46 days before Easter came to be regarded as the beginning of Lent.
In the early centuries the season before Easter was also the usual period of intense training for new Christians. During this period, the catechumens (those learning what it meant to be Christians) went through the final stages of preparation for baptism, which usually occurred at dawn on Easter Sunday. As the practice of infant baptism increased, the emphasis on Lent as a training period decreased.1– Fred A. Grissom
Ash Wednesday
When is it in 2015? Wednesday, February 18th
Simple Definition: It is the first day of Lent.
Further Description:
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and the seventh Wednesday before Easter. It derives its name from the early ecclesiastical custom of putting ashes on the heads of believers on that day, as a sign of penitence.2
Palm Sunday
When is it in 2015? Sunday, March 29th
Simple Definition: The Sunday before Easter commemorating Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and where his followers place palm branches in His path.
Further Description:
Also, Passion Sunday. Sunday beginning Holy Week, commemorating Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and marking the beginning of the Holy Week. The distinctive ceremony of Palm Sunday services is the blessing of palms and a procession reenacting the biblical events on this day.3 The event is recorded in Matt. 21:1–11; Mark 11:1–10; Luke 19:28–44; John 12:12–18.
Maundy Thrusday
When is it in 2015? Thursday, April 2nd
Simple Definition: The Thursday before Easter when the church remembers the Last Supper and Jesus instituting communion (John 13-17).
Further Description:
Also, Holy Thursday. The word “maudy” come from the Latin word “mandatum” or mandate or commandment. This is in reference to John 13:34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” This day is used to remember the Last Supper, the prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, the betrayal with a kiss, the taking captive of Jesus, and the abandonment of his disciples. Some churches have a special Thursday evening service and observe communion.
Good Friday
When is it in 2015? Friday, April 3rd
Simple Definition: The Friday preceding Easter, observed in commemoration of the death of Jesus on the Cross (Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:31; cf. Matt. 27:62).
Further Description:
As early as the first century, the Church set aside every Friday as a special day of prayer and fasting. It was not until the fourth century, however, that the Church began observing the Friday before Easter as the day associated with the crucifixion of Christ. First called Holy or Great Friday by the Greek Church, the name “Good Friday” was adopted by the Roman Church around the sixth or seventh century.
Easter
When is it in 2015? Sunday, April 5th
Simple Definition: The Sunday when the church observes the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
Further Description:
Also known as Resurrection Sunday, the day Christians celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. The name ‘Easter’ derives from the eighth century Anglo-Saxon goddess of Spring (Eostre or Ostara), but the Christian festival developed from the Jewish Passover (Heb. pesech, Gk pascha), because according to the Gospels the events of Jesus’ last days took place at the time of Passover. The first Sunday to follow the new moon which occurs on or immediately after the vernal (spring) equinox, thus the dates for Easter may range from March 22 to April 25th.
Ascension Day
When is it in 2015? Thursday, May 14th
Simple Definition: The Thursday when the church remembers the ascension of Jesus 40 days after the resurrection.
Further Description:
Is the day the church celebrates the day Jesus ascended bodily into Heaven. It is described only in Acts 1:2-11, although there may be a different and shorter version in Luke 24:50-51. In the setting of Acts, the ascension occurs forty days after the resurrection (Acts 1:3) and is preparatory to the sending of the Spirit at Pentecost (2:1-4).
Pentecost Sunday
When is it in 2015? Sunday, May 24th
Simple Definition: The fiftieth day following the resurrection celebrating the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Further Description:
Marks the end of the Easter season in the Christian calendar, celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. The word Pentecost is derived from the Greek word pentekoste (“fiftieth”), which stood for the festival celebrated on the 50th day after Passover. In the OT this festival, called Shavu’oth (Weeks) in Judaism, is referred to as the Feast of Weeks (Ex 34:22; Dt 16:10) because it occurs seven weeks after Passover.
[1] Grissom, F. A. (2003). Lent. In (C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen, & T. C. Butler, Eds.)Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row and Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). In Harper’s Bible dictionary. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
[3] Kurian, G. T. (2001). In Nelson’s new Christian dictionary: the authoritative resource on the Christian world. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers