Pulpit Message Introduction for Mar. 9

Pulpit Message Introduction for fifth Sunday in Lent
Lenten period is a period for Jesus followers to practice Christian piety. Our observance of the season of Lent has its roots in the early church. Two early church fathers, Augustine and Tertullian, related that the Lenten fast originated with the Apostles. However, the fast of which they wrote was neither the season nor the fasting that we know. What the fathers were undoubtedly referring to was the desire of the early Christian community to sense anew the deep sorrow and pain they experienced during the period that our Lord lay in the tomb. The time was calculated as forty hours and was suggested, therefore, to be the appropriate span for fasting. There also appears to be some evidence that even prior to the suggested forty-hour fast, Christians fasted on Wednesday and Friday. The first fast was a reminder of our Lord's betrayal, and the second the remembrance of his crucifixion.However, each Sunday was regarded as the Lord's Day, a little Easter, in which both the crucifixion and the resurrection of our Lord were observed. In time, however, as people fixed more and more on the need to consider why our Lord was crucified, the stress was placed on the need for contrition and repentance. Soon the Lenten period was extended to a week, then to two weeks. Ultimately, the forty hours were extended to forty days. At one time this was a period of eight weeks of five days of fasting. By the seventh century the time was calculated as six weeks, not counting the Sundays, which were excluded as days of fasting. That is how we still reckon the period for our observance which began 5 weeks ago with Ash Wednesday.

講壇信息介紹
大齋節是跟隨基督的人用來操練敬虔最好的時間。大齋節溯源自初期教會。奧古斯丁和特土良兩位教父都提及大齋節禁食是緣起於使徒。那時使徒和信眾為紀念耶穌被放進墳墓裏的悲傷，實行四十小時的禁食。有證據顯示基督徒在此之前是逢星期三和星期五禁食的。第一個禁食是紀念我們的主被賣；第二個禁食是紀念祂的被釘。
但每一個星期天都是主日，是一個小的復活節，是慶祝主復活的日子。慶祝時禁食可以暫停，漸漸信徒卻又問為甚麼我們的主要被釘呢？原來是因我們的罪過，我們實在需要悔改和自省。於是禁食延長由一週延長至兩週；最後由四十小時延長到四十天。在第七世紀時大齋節確定為期六個星期，減去其中的主日，就是我們現在奉行的主被釘前四十天的大齋節了。