Top 10 Links for Holy Week

Holy Week is the most significant week on the Christian calendar, beginning with Palm Sunday and concluding with Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. There are many sites providing information on the events and traditions of Holy Week. Here’s a “Top 10 list” of ones we have found useful.

• Holy Week: General background and history from Ken Collins’ web site.
• All About Holy Week: Comprehensive information from ChurchYear.net.
• Bible Verses for Holy Week: A walk through of the key Scriptures for the week’s events, from BeliefNet.
• The Cross: Quotations to stir the heart and mind during Holy Week
• Why ‘Good’ Friday?: Some background on the title of the day’s commemoration.
• Family Activities for Holy Week: Thoughts on ways your family can take time each day to appreciate the importance of the Easter story.
• The Events of Holy Week: A guide to helping your children understand the events of Holy Week,
• The Science of the Crucifixion: Cahleen Shrier Ph.D., a biology professor from a Christian university, examines the physiological details of crucifixion.
• A Physician Testifies About the Crucifixion: A scientific look at the details of what crucifixion was like and what Our Lord endured.
• Stations of the Cross: From Catholic Online.

Why 40 Days?

From the earliest days of the church, the observance of Easter has always included a period of spiritual preparation beforehand. In the second century, Iraneus wrote of a period of two or three days of reflection. It is believed the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. first discussed a 40-day period, noting the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert preparing for ministry. Around the year 600, Pope Gregory the Great set the period of Lent as 46 days – 40 days not counting Sundays, which were already celebrations of the Resurrection – which meant the season would commence on a Wednesday.

Observations of Lent differ. The theme is always one of penance and prayer, with a focus on spiritual discipline that often includes fasting. This is a particular emphasis of the Roman Catholic church, which has guidelines for fasting during Lent. In the Eastern Orthodox church, Lent begins on Clean Monday, 55 days before eastern Easter. That’s That’s forty days, not counting the Saturdays or the Sundays.

In every tradition, the spiritual focus sharpens in Holy Week, the final week before Easter, in which Christians recall the events leading to Christ’s betrayal, trial, crucifixion, death and Resurrection. The “Easter season” follows and lasts 50 days, ending on Pentecost Sunday, which this year falls on May 31

The Date of Easter

What date is Easter? That’s easy, you might say – April 12!

Well, it’s April 12 this year. But Easter is one of those holidays that falls on a different date each year, based on a formula that dates back to 325 A.D., when the Council of Nicea laid down ground rules based on the Gregorian Calendar. The formula was adjusted slightly in 1582 to account for leap years. The variables include lunar cycles, and are explained in detail here and here, along with the dates for Easter for many years to come. You can also use the Easter Date Calculator from Holidays.net. Easter always falls between March 22 and April 25.

In the Western church, that is. Orthodox Christians follow a slightly different formula for setting the date of Easter, explained at this web page and in some detail here. The difference dates back to the changes in 1582, at which point the Eastern church had already separated from Rome. In most years, Orthodox Christians observe Easter a week or more later than the “Western” church. This year Orthodox churches will observe Easter on April 19.

Ash Wednesday

Welcome to Easter in Cyberspace for 2009 on this Ash Wednesday. These sites provide an in-depth look at the traditions associated with Ash Wednesday and the start of the Lenten season.

• Ash Wednesday: From Catholic Online.
• Ash Wednesday, Lent and Easter: History of the church calendar during Lent, from Answers in Action.
• Ash Wednesday Primer: From BeliefNet.
• The Significance of Ashes: An explanation from the Upper Room magazine.
• Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday: Informative links from the Family Sourcebook for Lent and Easter.
• Ash Wednesday Liturgy: A worship service developed by Richard Fairchild.
• Sermons for Ash Wednesday: Specific messages for Ash Wednesday worshio services, ncluding “The Gospel According to Angelica Pickles” (for Rugrats fans).
• What’s the Reason for Ashes on Ash Wednesday?: An explanation and history from Ken Collins’ excellent Christian holiday site.
• Ash Wednesday: Our shifting understanding of Lent: People who seldom come to Church the rest of the year will come for ashes. How did this practice become such an important part of the lives of so many believers?
• Ash Wednesday Prayers: Several simple prayers from Victor Hoagland.
• Ash Wednesday: Summary of observances from ReligionFacts.com.
• Ash Wednesday: Some nice links from the “Ashes to Easter” web site.

Lent Begins Feb. 25

This year Lent commences on Feb. 25, which is Ash Wednesday. In the next week we’ll offer numerous resources on Ash Wednesday and Lent, but a good starting point is a page of links from Christianity Today providing some background on Lent.

Parents contemplating Lenten activities for the family may enjoy reading Countdown To Easter, which originally appeared in Christian Parenting Today and offers “40 ways to celebrate the greatest event in history,” including everything from singing beloved hymns to making hot cross buns.