Lent 2008

     Mardi Gras we know, but the Church Season that is coming is Lent, a time for God's people to remember the cost of sin. The Bible teaches that all human kind are sinners. The wages of sin is death. We understand that God gave us Jesus Christ to pay those wages for us.

     Lent is a time when Christians remember the journey that led Jesus to the cross. Many churches will celebrate Ash Wednesday, February 6, the beginning of Lent with solemn worship and ashes.

     Zion Lutheran Church in Silverhill will begin Lenten Midweek Vespers at 7 PM each Wednesday during the season. With Holy Week midweek events will culminate in Maundy Thursday and Good Friday worship, March 20 and 21. Vespers will be preceded each week by a light soup and sandwich supper at 6 PM.

     Steve Vasko (Silverhill) holds a few pieces that went into his "candle stand." Fabrication required brazing and welding. This metal work is the foundation for a Lenten "wreath of thorns" to be used in worship during the Season of Lent at Zion Lutheran Church in Silverhill.

     In the wreath of thorns, a candle will be extinguished each Sunday of the Season, the exact reverse of the Advent wreath leading up to Christmas. The "Christ" candle is extinguished on Good Friday's Tenebrae Service, commemorating the death and burial of the Lord Jesus. All candles are lit again at the service of resurrection, Easter! The wreath of thorns with its candles will be a reminder of the progression of events that led to the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.

     Pete Midgarden wraps a wreath of thorns around the candle assembly constructed by Steve Vasko to complete Zion's "Wreath of Thorns" to be used as a Lenten remembrance of Christ's suffering death remembered in the Lenten Season. Each Sunday during Lent one candle will be extinguished and on Good Friday the central "Christ Candle" will be put out during our church's Tenebrae Service.