Lent is a forty-day season of preparation for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. The season begins with Ash Wednesday, when pastors mark the foreheads of Christians with ashes as a reminder that they are created from dust and to dust they shall return.
The season continues through Holy Week: Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday--when Holy Communion was instituted at the Last Supper--and Good Friday, when Jesus was tried, crucified, and buried.
Because the Last Supper was celebrated during the Feast of the Passover, which is calculated on the phases of the moon, Easter is called a movable feast. Lent is scheduled backward from Easter.
Lent is a time when Christians remember their baptism, as Jesus washes away their sins until they are ready to celebrate the triumph of Palm Sunday and the glory of Easter.
Because Lent is a time of letting go of the bondage of sin, it is also a time of celebrating the freedom from the bondage of slavery, which Jews remember at the Passover, as they give thanks for their freedom from the captivity of the Egyptians.
Len is a time of stripping down to essentials, as each Christian focuses on his or her individual relationship with God. It is a time for the washing away of sin and for renewal, as Christians remember their baptism.
It is a time of celebration of the freedom from the bondage of sin and the bondage of slavery, as Christians celebrate the freedom of all slaves.
Lent is the season when we follow Jesus from his adult ministry through his suffering during Holy Week and his crucifixion and death on Good Friday.
The color of Lent is purple.