Lent and Ash Wednesday

[PetrChelcicky]

I am somewhat surprised that in "Anabaptist World", Lent and Ash Wednesday are treated as common Christian traditions. I have been raised in a strictly Protestant region, in which only the Catholics came back at Ash Wednesday with an Ash cross on their forehead - it was a Catholic particularity. So were restrictions of diet before Easter (with the exception of Good Friday, when even Protestants ate fish). Modern Protestants have adopted Lent to a degree (because of its spirit of self-denial) but certainly not Ash Wednesday.
Is this a modern tendency with Mennonites or a tradition?

[mike]

I think it's only a thing for the more progressive Mennonites. As a conservative Mennonite with Amish background, I barely even know what those holidays/events are, and it would seem beyond strange to observe them.

[Szdfan]

I think it's only a thing for the more progressive Mennonites. As a conservative Mennonite with Amish background, I barely even know what those holidays/events are, and it would seem beyond strange to observe them.

I think that's accurate. When I was in seminary, there was a push by a segment in the seminary that saw value in these practices. A couple of my professors planted an experimental church that celebrated communion every week. I don't know how widespread this emphasis is among rank-and-file churches in MCUSA, though.

[Josh]

This is a progressive Anabaptist thing that seems to mostly exist on the pages of Anabaptist World - when I went to a mainstream/evangelical Anabaptist church (now FEC), there were always devotionals and other material for Ash Wednesday, Lent, Advent and so forth in the The Mennonite, which the entire congregation ignored.

[mike]

This is a progressive Anabaptist thing that seems to mostly exist on the pages of Anabaptist World - when I went to a mainstream/evangelical Anabaptist church (now FEC), there were always devotionals and other material for Ash Wednesday, Lent, Advent and so forth in the The Mennonite, which the entire congregation ignored.

I don't understand why some churches try so hard to be like denominations that they really don't fit with. If people want to be Presbyterians or Lutherans or Catholics or Pentecostals, they are much better off going and joining those churches than they are joining a Mennonite church that is trying to be like those groups.

[Josh]

This is a progressive Anabaptist thing that seems to mostly exist on the pages of Anabaptist World - when I went to a mainstream/evangelical Anabaptist church (now FEC), there were always devotionals and other material for Ash Wednesday, Lent, Advent and so forth in the The Mennonite, which the entire congregation ignored.

I don't understand why some churches try so hard to be like denominations that they really don't fit with. If people want to be Presbyterians or Lutherans or Catholics or Pentecostals, they are much better off going and joining those churches than they are joining a Mennonite church that is trying to be like those groups.

If there was a desire to have more of the liturgical calendar, then reviving the old Mennonite & Amish holidays (which Old Orders often still celebrate) of Pentecost, Michaelmas, and Old Christmas / Epiphany would make a bit more sense.

[MaxPC]

This is a progressive Anabaptist thing that seems to mostly exist on the pages of Anabaptist World - when I went to a mainstream/evangelical Anabaptist church (now FEC), there were always devotionals and other material for Ash Wednesday, Lent, Advent and so forth in the The Mennonite, which the entire congregation ignored.

I don't understand why some churches try so hard to be like denominations that they really don't fit with. If people want to be Presbyterians or Lutherans or Catholics or Pentecostals, they are much better off going and joining those churches than they are joining a Mennonite church that is trying to be like those groups.

If there was a desire to have more of the liturgical calendar, then reviving the old Mennonite & Amish holidays (which Old Orders often still celebrate) of Pentecost, Michaelmas, and Old Christmas / Epiphany would make a bit more sense.

Or a family could simply celebrate them privately at home instead of expecting the entire fellowship to do so. Personally I do not see this as being mandated outside of RCC or EO. Pray as you can, not as you cannot; just pray is my motto.

[HondurasKeiser]

This is a progressive Anabaptist thing that seems to mostly exist on the pages of Anabaptist World - when I went to a mainstream/evangelical Anabaptist church (now FEC), there were always devotionals and other material for Ash Wednesday, Lent, Advent and so forth in the The Mennonite, which the entire congregation ignored.

I don't understand why some churches try so hard to be like denominations that they really don't fit with. If people want to be Presbyterians or Lutherans or Catholics or Pentecostals, they are much better off going and joining those churches than they are joining a Mennonite church that is trying to be like those groups.

If there was a desire to have more of the liturgical calendar, then reviving the old Mennonite & Amish holidays (which Old Orders often still celebrate) of Pentecost, Michaelmas, and Old Christmas / Epiphany would make a bit more sense.

In our family, we do observe the Liturgical Seasons. It helps us to focus on a different aspect of Jesus' life and ministry as well as different aspects of our own walk with Jesus, throughout the year. Barnhart mentioned in another thread the importance of both fasting and feasting. Americans love to feast and only ever fast in the name of physical fitness. I would suspect that most of us here love Christmas and Easter even if we don't indulge in them the way the wider culture does. The fasting aspects of Advent and Lent help us to better appreciate the feasting aspects of Christmas and Easter, for example. There is much good that we've gained as a family as a result of orienting ourselves and our priorities in a Liturgical direction. In this season of Lent it's helped us to be highly cognizant of all the easy ways to over-feast that exist in our consumerist culture.

[Josh]

Or a family could simply celebrate them privately at home instead of expecting the entire fellowship to do so. Personally I do not see this as being mandated outside of RCC or EO. Pray as you can, not as you cannot; just pray is my motto.

The NT makes it clear no holidays are mandated at all: "One person esteems holy days, but another esteems all days alike." Nonetheless, at a congregational level, it brings much more peace and harmony if people celebrate holy days together. In my own congregation, our days we celebrate together are:

- Easter school program
- Last day of school + play day afterward
- Thanksgiving, although this seems to be fading away
- Christmas school program

Usually on Memorial Day and/or July 4 we will have a churchwide gathering.

The rest of our special days like revivals don't happen on a fixed schedule.

[MaxPC]

Or a family could simply celebrate them privately at home instead of expecting the entire fellowship to do so. Personally I do not see this as being mandated outside of RCC or EO. Pray as you can, not as you cannot; just pray is my motto.

The NT makes it clear no holidays are mandated at all: "One person esteems holy days, but another esteems all days alike." Nonetheless, at a congregational level, it brings much more peace and harmony if people celebrate holy days together. In my own congregation, our days we celebrate together are:

- Easter school program
- Last day of school + play day afterward
- Thanksgiving, although this seems to be fading away
- Christmas school program

Usually on Memorial Day and/or July 4 we will have a churchwide gathering.

The rest of our special days like revivals don't happen on a fixed schedule.

What is the Anabaptist perspective on Jesus’ celebration of the Passover (the Last Supper)? Jesus as a Jew celebrated Jewish holy days.