denominations

Ash Wednesday was yesterday, and thus started Lent! All I really know about Lent is that people sacrifice something or somethings for 40 days symbolic to Jesus' 40 days spent in the desert fasting and praying. I heard a remarkable analysis of this 40-day period one time and it's stuck with me: one of the main purposes of this 40-day sacrifice is to draw closer to the Word of God...remembering that temptation from the enemy is inevitable but more importantly, also observing how Jesus responded to these temptations. To each of the enemy's taunts in the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert, he started his response with, "It is written..."...his lenience on the Truth warded off the temptations.

Yesterday, I learned all sorts of new things about Ash Wednesday. I learned that some churches place a "Cross of Ashes" on one's forehead as a sign of repentance. Until yesterday, I was ignorant of this. Something else of which I was ignorant is the fact that in the Catholic church, fasting from meat is a common practice along with reflection of and repentance from one's wrongdoings on Ash Wednesday; in Christian denominations the abstinence from meat part is optional, but a greater focus is placed on the repentance. Then when I was at Starbucks with a friend from work yesterday, who had a Cross of Ashes on her forehead, I hear this:

Starbucks Barista: What's that on your forehead?
My Friend: It's Ash Wednesday today....[she explained more but I couldn't hear.]
Starbucks Barista: Oh, I see. I'm Lutheran, so we don't stop something for Lent, we start something new.
My Friend: Oh, ok.

This totally surprised me and perplexed me. What in the world? I'm totally confused by denominations. How they started, who thought it was a good idea, who declared them, when each started, why they started, where they started, what God thinks about them, what the Bible says about them, the common thread between them all (if there is one anymore), what all they observe and don't observe when and why, differences in beliefs across all of them...and my list of questions / curiosities could go on.

On a lighter note, tomorrow is Friday! Looking forward to the weekend. Is it me or do shorter weeks seem to be more taxing than normal weeks??