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Lenten Season in Nigeria

Lenten Season in Nigeria

THE Christian faithful across the globe have in the past few weeks been observing this year’s forty-day Lenten season,  which is a period of solemn religious observance of the Christian liturgical calendar. It  begins on Ash Wednesday and ends  before Easter Sunday.

THE event is observed in the Anglican, Easter Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, Moravia, Presbyterian, Oriental Orthodox and  Reformed and Roman Catholic churches. Some Anabaptists and Evangelical churches also observe  the Lenten season.

HOWEVER, the earliest mention of lent in church history comes from the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. The Council of Nicaea is best known for the profession of faith – the ‘Nicene Creed’. The Council also issued twenty canons of a practical nature,  and the fifth of these canons speaks of Lent. The word used for Lent in this fifth cannon is tessarakonta , which means forty, in the original Greek language.

LENT  is traditionally described as lasting for 40 days, in commemoration of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert, according to the Gospel of Mathew, Mark and Luke.

THE purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer for Easter through prayer, doing penance, mortifying the flesh, repentance of sins, alms giving and self-denial. Lent is mostly viewed as the holiest period in the Christian calendar. In the ancient church, it was also a time for new church converts to be instructed for baptism and believers caught in sin to focus on repentance. It is a time to discard evil activities and return to God for good, a time for people to make peace with those they have wronged.

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DESPITE the foregoing record, many Protestants have over the decades seen the practice of Lent as optional for believers,  pointing out that  it is not  required in the scripture. There are also others who hold the belief that a time to show true repentance and abstinence from evil ways would not be despised by God, who according to scripture wants all men to be saved.

THEREFORE, this period of Lent holds much relevance to today’s world and Nigeria in particular,  especially as the country is passing through her most trying time. In other words, what the nation needs goes beyond mere religiosity but true and total  repentance to God for a  turnaround. That Nigeria has both human and material resources is not an overstatement. It is a truism of a nation that has long been treading the path of a prodigal, which leads to misery and privations. This period of sober reflection therefore provides a rare opportunity for Christians to rededicate their liveAs to God and seek His intervention on behalf of the nation.

LENTEN observance affords the church opportunity to participate more intimately in the suffering of Jesus Christ, in preparation for the celebration of the solemn feast of his resurrection at Easter. It is a time for Christians to unite in prayer for peace, progress and security of the country.

CONSEQUENTLY,  the  significance of Lent is that it is a season that separates Christians from the world. It is also believed that those who journey through the Lenten season will enter the Easter season with an increased appreciation of who God is, the joy of resurrection and promises of eternity.

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THEREFORE, the impact of our Christian faith must be felt in public life. This is not a time for complacency, but rather for heroism in Christian virtues, through sacrifices that remind us of the one made by Jesus Christ when He saved us from sin and won for us salvation of our souls. Nigeria must therefore seize this penitential season to turn away from corruption, selfishness, senseless killings, kidnappings among other social vices and show total repentance to God.

THE Hope  enjoins  Christians to fix their eyes on the crucified Jesus during this season of sober reflections and engage in practices of self-denial, diligence and moderation in their actions. We equally appeal  to worshippers to always exemplify good conducts during and after the period, take the lessons of the season seriously and apply them to their daily lives so that they can reap all the benefits attached  to the  Lenten season as  true ambassadors of our Lord Jesus Christ.

While we felicitate with the Christian faithful who have remained steadfast and selflessly committed to the unity and greatness of the  nation,

THE Hope  urges our leaders to see this Lenten season as a clarion call to wake up to their responsibilities and emulate the virtues of our Lord Jesus Christ on self- sacrifices, giving, tolerance and unconditional love through which Nigeria can become a virile nation again.

SINCE  the real message of Lenten season is love, The Hope urges Nigerians to love one another,  because if there is true love among us, there will be peaceful co-existence among different ethnic groups bringing  an end to shedding of innocent blood across the country.  There is no better time for Christians in Nigeria to cry out to God for mercy than this period of Lent.

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One way of changing lives is through the life  that we live. We urge  the Christian faithful to observe the 40- day spiritual journey of repentance with prayers, love, alms giving and other charitable works,  because at this point in the nation’s life, there are many people in need of help.

THE Hope appeals to Christians in this period to renew their relationships with one another and extend hands of friendships to people of other faiths, as with such gestures, peace can be experienced across the country. This is the only way through which we can demonstrate the true love of God, the giver of life.  It is the prayer of The Hope that God will give all Christian faithful the grace to observe this season with all the needed sacrifices so that they will reap its rewards, and that Nigeria as a country will also benefit positively through prayers offered.

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