Can anyone
tell me where to find the word "Christmas" in the Bible?
Probably not, because the word is nowhere to be found in
that book. Well, how about the word "Easter?" Surely that
word is somewhere in Holy Scriptures. Try as you might,
you won't find that word in the Bible either.
Now we are in the
church season of Lent. Do you think "Lent" can be found
in the Bible? Isn't that interesting, none of these three
words can be found in God's word, because they are words
which have been used in the Church to mark our days of
celebration and our days of preparation for Easter, and
they call came into use after the Bible was
written.
The word "Lent"
comes from an Old English word which simply means "long."
And do you think you might know why we use this word to
speak of our period of preparation for Easter? I'll tell
you. If you notice, Lent always comes during that time of
the year when the days are getting longer and we are
seeing more and more sunshine. And that's what lent is
supposed to do for us - to shed more and more light in
our lives so that the darkness disappears.
Lent has 40 days,
not counting Sundays (Sundays are always a
mini-celebration of Easter, and very seldom do we let
anything interfere with our celebration of Easter each
week), but it hasn't always been 40 days. The Church has
changed it so it will be the same length as the days
Jesus spent in the wilderness where he fasted and was
tempted by the devil at the beginning of his public
ministry.