Lent

[FaithT]

Are LCMS Lutherans required to give up something for Lent?

 

[tampasteve]

No, Lutherans in general are not. Although it is advisable to use the season to add or abstain from something. It can be tough to even find Lutheran churches that do anything for Lent at all other than Easter services and maybe a Ash Wednesday and Good Friday service.

Usually I like to add a daily devotion of some sort, whether I abstain or not is another matter. This year I am going to abstain from alcohol the entire Lent and meat on Fridays. I will also be adding a morning devotion that I normally have not been doing.

 

[FaithT]

I don’t know what I want to abstain from or add then, yet. I’ll think about it.

 

[LizaMarie]

My WELS Church has Ash Wednesday night Service with imposition of Ashes and soup/ sandwich supper, Weekly Wednesday night lenten services, Holy Week with Maundy Thursday(with communion) Good Friday Tenebrae service and Easter Sunday(With Pre- Service Breakfast.)
With Covid last year all the lenton services were online sadly.
Fasting is not mentioned but some do it.

 

[FaithT]

My WELS Church has Ash Wednesday night Service with imposition of Ashes and soup/ sandwich supper, Weekly Wednesday night lenten services, Holy Week with Maundy Thursday(with communion) Good Friday Tenebrae service and Easter Sunday(With Pre- Service Breakfast.)
With Covid last year all the lenton services were online sadly.
Fasting is not mentioned but some do it.

We’re having an Ash Wednesday service but I think the rest of the Wednesday services during Lent will be online.

 

[FaithT]

My church was wonderful for fellowship...coffee, tea, donuts, fruit etc. between services. We had classes, Bible Studies and all sorts of things. Now, we can’t get enough people involved. I think most people are watching church online and have bowed out of various activities. Our coffee and donuts time is kaput and I wonder if it’ll ever return.
Things are so different from when I joined my church.

There is a Zoom group that is a Bible Study, I think. I’ll have to find out more and then maybe join it. Zoom is better than nothing.

 

[GreekOrthodox]

I don’t know what I want to abstain from or add then, yet. I’ll think about it.

Abstain from sin; add prayer.

“I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” - Martin Luther

"Fasting is the change of every part of our life, because the sacrifice of the fast is not the abstinence but the distancing from sins. Therefore, whoever limits the fast to the deprivation of food, he is the one who, in reality, abhors and ridicules the fast. Are you fasting? Show me your fast with your works. Which works? If you see someone who is poor, show him mercy. If you see an enemy, reconcile with him. If you see a friend who is becoming successful, do not be jealous of him! If you see a beautiful woman on the street, pass her by." - St. John Chrysostom

 

[LizaMarie]

We’re having an Ash Wednesday service but I think the rest of the Wednesday services during Lent will be online.

Yes it went that way last year for us. In a normal year and perhaps this year we have will have in person lent services. My pastor- pastors two churches so the services are split up. He also has added a Saturday night service, also. Mask wearing and social distancing required.
In a normal year we Kicked it off with Ash Wednesday and soup supper, weekly Wednesday night services and full Holy Week services.

 

[LizaMarie]

My church was wonderful for fellowship...coffee, tea, donuts, fruit etc. between services. We had classes, Bible Studies and all sorts of things. Now, we can’t get enough people involved. I think most people are watching church online and have bowed out of various activities. Our coffee and donuts time is kaput and I wonder if it’ll ever return.
Things are so different from when I joined my church.

There is a Zoom group that is a Bible Study, I think. I’ll have to find out more and then maybe join it. Zoom is better than nothing.

Our Pastor really stresses the importance of in- person Church(fellowship with believers) if possible and of course Holy Communion. Last year we shut down after ASH Wednesday and Easter Service was online. This year will be different, I hope.

 

[tampasteve]

Unfortunately my current church will not be having an Ash Wednesday service this year, or anything until Holy Week. There is a local UMC church doing an Ash Wednesday evening service, but I am probably going to go to an Episcopal noon service instead as that fits my schedule much better.

 

[GreekOrthodox]

Sigh, this is the rough year for us Eastern Orthodox. Lent doesnt begin until mid March and Pascha is May 2. All the Easter candy is long gone and stale.

 

[FaithT]

Our Pastor really stresses the importance of in- person Church(fellowship with believers) if possible and of course Holy Communion. Last year we shut down after ASH Wednesday and Easter Service was online. This year will be different, I hope.

Yes, last year our Easter Service was online too, though we did have the opportunity to take pictures with our cross covered in donated flowers but we didn’t do that last year.

 

[FaithT]

My church was wonderful for fellowship...coffee, tea, donuts, fruit etc. between services. We had classes, Bible Studies and all sorts of things. Now, we can’t get enough people involved. I think most people are watching church online and have bowed out of various activities. Our coffee and donuts time is kaput and I wonder if it’ll ever return.
Things are so different from when I joined my church.

There is a Zoom group that is a Bible Study, I think. I’ll have to find out more and then maybe join it. Zoom is better than nothing.

I’m especially sad because I’m still fairly new to the LCMS church, having joined about 2 years ago, so I wanted a photo with my husband and I in front of the cross as an annual tradition and we’ve already missed our second year.

 

[Tigger45]

Sigh, this is the rough year for us Eastern Orthodox. Lent doesnt begin until mid March and Pascha is May 2. All the Easter candy is long gone and stale.

Sounds like God is showing His mercy to you guys by removing the temptation to cheat on the fast.

 

[GreekOrthodox]

Sounds like God is showing His mercy to you guys by removing the temptation to cheat on the fast.

Candy is pretty much fast friendly for Orthodox. Depending on how far we personally take the fast, it is far more involved.

Food: We fast from meat, fish, dairy products, eggs, oil, and wine. Since the grocery bill should go down, that money should be donated to the poor. One MAJOR note, pregnant or nursing women and people with medical conditions are exempt. For example, I'm diabetic and I simply cannot do the very carb heavy Lenten meals. So I will have fish and skip the pasta and rice.
Entertainment: no secular entertainment
Married life: fast from passions of the flesh... yes, you read that right

More important, however, than fasting from food, is fasting from the behaviors that are spiritually destructive. We need to fast from things that get us in trouble - perhaps the television, alcohol, inappropriate materials on the computer and in movies, foul language, etc. Fasting also does not mean "looking" deprived, complaining about what you can't eat, or making a show of your fasting. In fact, if you are fasting and you are invited to someone's home for dinner and they serve meat, eat the meat, don't make a big deal out of your fasting. <hint, invite me over for dinner sometime!>
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So in other words, you're going to fast and you're going to like it! In fact, the first day of the fast, known as Clean Monday, it is traditional to go out and have a family picnic.

Oh btw, the Lenten fast does not include Holy Week, which is extremely strict. So we celebrate the end of the Lenten fast with, guess what? MORE FASTING!

And When You Fast - Triodion - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

 

[FaithT]

No, Lutherans in general are not. Although it is advisable to use the season to add or abstain from something. It can be tough to even find Lutheran churches that do anything for Lent at all other than Easter services and maybe a Ash Wednesday and Good Friday service.

Usually I like to add a daily devotion of some sort, whether I abstain or not is another matter. This year I am going to abstain from alcohol the entire Lent and meat on Fridays. I will also be adding a morning devotion that I normally have not been doing.

So LCMS Lutherans are allowed to eat meat on Fridays?

 

[tampasteve]

So LCMS Lutherans are allowed to eat meat on Fridays?

Yes, there are not official rules that forbit it. But I find it a practice that edifies my Lenten experience.