(M,P,C)B...
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How appropriate this passage is for the first Sunday in Lent. It reminds us of the forty days and nights that Noah and the others spent on the ark, trusting in God to bring them through This is one of the images evoked by the forty days of Lent -- along with the forty years of the Hebrew children in the wilderness and Jesus' own forty days in the wilderness. Originally, Lent was a period of intense preparation by the catechumens for baptism. Now it is a general period of preparation for Easter. But it would be a very good discipline to keep the baptismal vows and the creed (orginally a baptismal statement) before us as we meditate during the Lenten season. It is, in fact, a very appropriate season for a series of sermons dealing with the creed, and this lesson, with the harrowing of hell, gets to the heart of one of the creed's most controversial passages.
Only eight were saved through the water of the flood. But uncountable legions can be saved through the water of baptism. We do not often enough remind people of the significance of their baptism in ordering their lives and of the need to renew those vows. (Lent is a great time for a baptismal renewal service.) This passage offers a splendid opportunity to deal with these issues.
- Shearburn
How appropriate this passage is for the first Sunday in Lent. It reminds us of the forty days and nights that Noah and the others spent on the ark, trusting in God to bring them through This is one of the images evoked by the forty days of Lent -- along with the forty years of the Hebrew children in the wilderness and Jesus' own forty days in the wilderness. Originally, Lent was a period of intense preparation by the catechumens for baptism. Now it is a general period of preparation for Easter. But it would be a very good discipline to keep the baptismal vows and the creed (orginally a baptismal statement) before us as we meditate during the Lenten season. It is, in fact, a very appropriate season for a series of sermons dealing with the creed, and this lesson, with the harrowing of hell, gets to the heart of one of the creed's most controversial passages.
Only eight were saved through the water of the flood. But uncountable legions can be saved through the water of baptism. We do not often enough remind people of the significance of their baptism in ordering their lives and of the need to renew those vows. (Lent is a great time for a baptismal renewal service.) This passage offers a splendid opportunity to deal with these issues.
- Shearburn
