… is the English language root of the word Lent.

40 days

40 days of rain to flood the earth in Genesis

40 years for Israel to wander the desert

40 days of hunger for Moses as he waited for the law of God on Sinai

40 days for Jesus to wander and fast in the desert as preparation for 4 years

And for us- tomorrow we feast on pancakes, as our own 40 days begin- then our Lenten journey towards Easter begins, when Christians traditionally make preparation for remembering and celebrating the death and life of Jesus through prayer, repentance, serving others or self denial/fasting.

To mark the Lent journey on this blog, I am going to use a daily excerpt from ’40’- a collection of images by Si Smith and my words- available from Proost as a book, download or movie.

We in Aoradh have used it several times as a worship installation, but never as a daily Lent meditation.

I do not usually fast during Lent- observance of such things were not a big part of the Evangelical tradition I grew out of- too ‘Catholic’ probably. But this our family have discussed finding something to forgo as part of our celebration of Lent.

Emily suggested meat (we are vegetarian)

William suggested fruit and veg, as this would leave chocolate and chips- and so all the 10 year old food groups are covered.

I am not sure that they quite get it…