Abstract
Unless you grew up in a church that commemorated Sunday by Sunday the events of Christ's life and of early church history you may be unaware, as I was for years, of the meaning of Lent. All I understood as a child was that sometime before Easter, a few kids at school began to make jokes about giving up things for Lent-things such as homework and asparagus. The devout gave up chewing gum or a favorite cartoon. I respected their seriousness and asked them what Lent was all about, but none could explain.