To respond to one followers request for information about Lent, when it started and why its 40days I did a bit of online research. Basically Lent is not in the Bible, but using the examples of Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness, Moses and Elijah's 40 days with God, the church decided early on to set aside 40 days each year to concentrate on getting closer to God and to make sure one's life was following God's rules. It was also intended to increase your understanding of what Jesus went thru for us to have forgiveness of our sins. After the Protestant Reformation many churches did not observe Lent at all as part of the split with Roman Catholic church. However Methodist, Presbyterians,Lutherans, and others did keep Lent in their liturgy.
I looked on several websites but found the most concise information on the UMC.org website for the United Methodist Church. If you put in the following sentence in the search box for the website you will find a wealth of information and some fun articles to read. Try;
"What is Lent and why does it last forty days"
My own experience has been that as I set aside these 40 days to spend more time with God, searching scriptures,praying and aligning myself as best a human can with God's ideals, that then Easter/Resurrection Sunday has about 500% more meaning to me!! An added bonus is all you learn from God during this time that hopefully makes us better people to share God to those around us. After all isn't that our mission or purpose in life?
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