Faith News
A message from St George parish church
Approaching Lent…Sexagesima
Introduction
As we leave behind the Christmas Season there is a time of transition in which we begin to look to Lent, the Cross and Easter.
Sexagesima Sunday is the third Sunday before the start of Lent. Traditionally, it marked the beginning of preparations for Lent. It is followed by Sexagesima and Quinquagesima.
While the name Septuagesima means seventieth day in Late Latin, it is not 70 days before Easter, but only 63. But it may be that the names started with Quinquagesima (fiftieth), which is 49 days before Easter, or 50 if you include Easter. Then the previous two Sundays, working backwards, become Sexagesima and Septuagesima.
These Sundays lost their designation when the revision of services took place towards the end of the twentieth century. The names remain in the Book of Common Prayer but not in the Alternative Service Book or in Common Worship, which we use now.
In earlier times the Lenten fast was begun immediately after Septuagesima Sunday but for us the “gesima” Sundays can act as a precursor for Lent by using the collects and readings to set the scene. The themes can help us to orientate our thoughts towards keeping Lent.
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07.02.2021 Sexagesima Sunday
Having been delivered from sin (Collect for Septuagesima), in the Collect for Sexagesima we ask God to defend us from all that can cause us to deviate from following Jesus as life goes forward:
O Lord God, who seest that we put not our trust in any thing that we do: Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP)
While we continue to trust in God to protect us and to forgive our transgressions, lapses and disobedience, there remain many dangers and distractions that hinder our following of the example of Jesus: both external cares and worries and internal weaknesses. Some of these are listed in the Epistle for Sexagesima (2 Corinthians 11. 19 – 31) in which St Paul describes the hardships he has endured.
Remembering that 6 February (yesterday) is the anniversary of the Accession of Queen Elizabeth II, we can use an adapted form of part of a prayer, that appears in the service for the accession, as a positive approach to the theme of this day:
Lord God, grant that we being devoted to thee with our whole heart, and persevering in good works unto the end, may, by thy guidance, come to thine everlasting kingdom. Amen.
God will guide us all through our Lenten discipline if we put our trust in him.
This is an apt text for the beginning of our preparation
for the observance of Lent.
