By Rev. Canon Stewart Murray, Incumbent at St. Barnabas, Ottawa

(published in the February 2019 issue of Crosstalk)

The period between the end of Christmas celebrations and the beginning of the holy season of Lent goes by a variety of names in the Church. In the Anglican tradition, the current practice is to number the Sundays only as Epiphany II, III etc. Gone are the days that saw a countdown to Lent/Easter with the wonderful Sundays entitled Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima. At seminary one professor called this the “Lenten creep”, when Lenten purple and other Lenten customs crept into the three Sundays before Ash Wednesday, effectively expanding the Lent/Easter cycle from 40 to 70 days. Although by default I am suspicious of any liturgical changes, the...