As we get ready for another Ash Wednesday, and another 40-day sojourn into the desert, the Arkansas Catholic has this intriguing item reminding us that Lent is not just a Catholic thing anymore:

Beginning Ash Wednesday, Catholics enter the 40-day penitential season of Lent, but they are not the only Christians to do so. In fact, a growing number of Christian denominations are incorporating Lenten observances into their Christian experience.

“In some denominations we are reclaiming a sense of history,” Dr. Jane Harris, professor of American religion at Hendrix College in Conway, said. “We can still be Protestant yet claim liturgical practices.”

Harris gave two reasons to explain why more churches, including some American Baptist churches, although none in Arkansas, now follow a liturgical calendar and observe Lent.

First, she said, many churches want to recognize the rich history of the liturgical calendar.

“Observing church seasons add elements of depth and life to the congregation to spiritually enrich us,” she said.

Secondly, society has diminished the spiritual elements of holidays.

“Advent and Lent slow us down and take us away from the commercialism and allow us to prepare for the high holy days of Christmas and Easter,” she said.

In fact, Lent is all about preparation. While the word “Lent” means “spring,” the season of Lent for many Christians is marked by a concentrated focus on prayer and a sacrifice either by giving something up or taking something on, Harris said.

“During Lent, we know that for 40 days everything is going to be different,” Father Nicholas Verdaris, pastor of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Little Rock said. “It is about altering our way of life to allow more time for prayer.”

Father Verdaris said there are special services only done during Lent and include prayer along with communion and act to fortify the spirits of the faithful.

Followers of the Orthodox Church do not eat meat and sometimes extend that prohibition to dairy for the entire 40 days of Lent, Father Verdaris said.

He also said no weddings are performed during Lent and except for funerals, no other sacraments are celebrated.

In addition, he said the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church use the same formula in determining Easter, but they apply it differently. The Catholic Church follows the Gregorian calendar and the Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar. Additionally, for Orthodox Christians, Lent begins on Clean Monday, not Ash Wednesday and Easter begins at midnight on Easter Sunday. Father Verdaris said there have been many disappointed people who come to the Orthodox Church on Easter Sunday only to find a brief prayer service which includes brief hymns and no communion.

“We begin at 11 p.m. on Holy Saturday with candles and fill the church with light and praises of the resurrection and are up pretty late, similar to midnight Mass,” he said.

Check the link for more. (And, by golly, that picture above looks like a Methodist minister wearing a deacon’s stole, doesn’t it? )

Meantime, if you’re looking for an early Ash Wednesday fix, here’s a flashback: my homily for the day from last year. I’ll be posting this year’s reflection tomorrow morning.

PHOTO: From the Arkansas Catholic and the United Methodist News Service/Mike Debose.   A member of a United Methodist church receives ashes during an Ash Wednesday service in 2008 to observe Lent. Many United Methodists also hold Palm Sunday and Holy Week services.