The Grain of Wheat 2018

A Brief Order for Matins (Morning Prayer) To be sung or said aloud: (Trace the sign of the cross on your lips and chant or say,) O Lord, open `my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim `your praise. Psalm 108:1-4 My heart is steadfast, O God, my `heart is steadfast;             I will sing `and make melody. Wake up, my spirit; awake, `lute and harp;             I myself will wak-`en the dawn. I will give thanks to you, O Lord, a-`mong the peoples;             I will sing praise to you             a-`mong the nations. For your steadfast love is greater `than the heavens,             and your faithfulness             reaches...

The Grain of Wheat: A Lenten Journey 2018 When the early Christians gathered, they worshiped on Sunday, the Lord's Day, the eighth day, day of new creation (7, the number of completion, plus 1, for new creation), because on that day Christ was raised from the dead. Every Sunday was a celebration of Easter. As the church year developed over the next centuries, incorporating agricultural feasts, pre-existing Jewish and Roman festivals, and the natural seasons of the northern hemisphere, Easter or Pascha was the first festival to have a place in the calendar as a separate yearly Christian observance, perhaps as early as the second century. Quite naturally, this Paschal feast was soon preceded by a period of preparation and fasting - first, a day, then six days, and, at one time, 70 days . The English word "Lent" comes from “lenct,” the same root as "Lenz," the German word for spring, as well as our word "lengthen," and it refers to the lengthening of...