wfn.org | Season of Lent provides opportunity to pray for peace

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

March 12, 2003 News media contact: Kathy Gilbert7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.	10-71BP{136}

NOTE: A photograph is available with this story.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - A Native American story tells of a small boy who
goes to an elder in his tribe for advice. The boy is struggling because he
has a "wolf and a lamb" living inside him. He doesn't know which one to
honor. The wise man tells him: "You will honor the one you feed."

"In this time of Lent, let the wolf go hungry and feed the lamb," says
Kathleen Flood, a Dominican nun, Order of Preaching, speaking March 5 at an
Ash Wednesday service at the United Methodist Scarritt-Bennett Center in
Nashville. Scarritt-Bennett is a not-for-profit conference, retreat and
educational center owned by the Women's Division of the United Methodist
Board of Global Ministries.

The analogy of the wolf and the lamb seems especially poignant during this
Lent as the world teeters on the edge of war.

The World Council of Churches, a fellowship of more than 300 churches that
includes the United Methodist Church, has called upon Christians around the
world to use the season of Lent to join in prayers for peace in Iraq.

Prayers written by Christian, Jewish and Muslim clergy used in
inter-religious worships during the Gulf War in 1991 can be found on the
council's Web site at
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/iraqprayers-e.html.

The Women's Division has launched a campaign called "Christian Women Pray for
Peace from Advent to Easter." Women are asked to write a prayer for peace on
a postcard and send it to the Board of Global Ministries. On Easter weekend,
the Women's Division plans a demonstration for peace and will deliver the
postcards to the White House. For more information, go to
http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/prayers4peace.html.

Lent began with Ash Wednesday and will end on Easter Sunday, April 20.

This time of year brings a lot of questions about what the United Methodist
Church believes and observes for Lent.

"Lent is a very personal time for individuals, so the United Methodist Church
does not have official guidelines on how churches should observe Lent," says
Mary Lynn Holly, director of InfoServ, United Methodist Communications'
information service. "For example, the church does not say everyone has to
fast. Sometimes the different ways churches observe Lent causes some
confusion and they come to us for help." 

A Web page devoted to explanations and resources on Lent and Easter can be
found at http://infoserv.umc.org/faq/lenteaster.htm.

The opening page says: "The seasons of Lent and Easter celebrate the most
important aspect of Christian life - the redemption and salvation of
Christians through the resurrection of Christ. Beginning with Ash Wednesday,
Christians around the world anticipate and prepare for Christ's victory over
death with fasting, penitence and prayer and ultimately, joy, praise and
celebration." 

Included on the Web site are links to United Methodist agencies and
organizations such as the Board of Discipleship, the Upper Room, Cokesbury
and others, as well as many resources for individuals and churches to use
during Lent and Easter.

Many people call InfoServ at this time of the year, Holly says. The most
frequently asked questions include "Why does Lent last 40 days?" "What is Ash
Wednesday?" and "What does it mean to fast?"

In her sermon, Sister Kathleen says God gives us a hint of what is required
in Isaiah 58. "The kind of fast God desires is the kind that leaves us hungry
for justice."

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United Methodist News Service
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