Ash Wednesday is just a couple days away, and since I’m always fascinated by seasonal words, it seemed like a great time to look up Lent. Why is this the word chosen to represent the 40 days preceding Easter?
First, formations of Lent are unique to English (both Lent and lenten) to represent this time of year. Other languages use words that have their root in the word “forty” for the season. English, however, follows its typical habit of using existing seasonal words for Church calendar things and calls it Lent because it’s during spring, when the days lengthen. Yep, that’s right! Lent and Length are from the same root! The Old English word for “springtime” was lencten. Other Germanic languages have similar word forms for “length” but don’t use them for the liturgical season. English, however, has been using Lent since the 1100s!
Do you do any special observation of Lent?
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Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary. 
During Lent a number of churches in the southern part of Virginia Beach, called the Princess Anne Cluster, band together to provide Sunday evening Lenten services. Although most of them are Methodist churches, any church in the area can participate. Presently, we have a Baptist church and an assembly of God church that have been involved since I first was. Tom’s church was in this area, only 3 miles from the North Carolina border, which was how we learned about it. The name Princess Anne comes from the fact that most of current Virginia Beach used to be Princess Anne County. Virginia Beach was a small area along the oceanfront, which asked the county to merge with them. Churches that are members of the cluster, can volunteer their church to host a Lenten service, and a pastor can volunteer to preach. Hosting involves providing a potluck dinner before the service, the music, and Communion. The only stipulation is that a pastor can’t preach at his/her own church. This is such fun and a great way to know the community. Last night was the first service, held at Back Bay Christian Assembly, and it was so good to see old friends and make new ones.
I’m excited for both of the books that will be releasing, Roseanna! They sound great, and the pictures for the WWII book are enticing.