Lent originally began as a season of preparation for adults being baptised at Easter, and also as a time for those separated from the Church due to sin to prepare to be welcomed back into the Church’s fellowship.

Various things happen in churches during Lent. At worship, music is especially restrained. The ‘Glory to God in the highest’ (the Gloria) is not sung and neither is the word ‘alleluia.’ There are no flowers in church. The colour for the season of Lent is purple, the royal colour, to prepare for the King. Purple is also associated with mourning and so anticipates the pain and suffering of the crucifixion. So the priest’s vestments and the covering on the high altar and pulpit are purple.

Lent is a preparatory time for Easter, when Christians mark Jesus’ sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for forty days to fast and pray in preparation for His ministry and being tempted by the Devil. It is a serious and thoughtful festival, a season for reflection and thinking about the things we have done wrong and what we should do better in the future. Jesus used this time to prepare for His work by fasting and praying. During Lent many Christians fast (they avoid eating certain foods, particularly things they enjoy, like chocolate) and spend extra time praying - see below for prayers used in the 2008 Lent services. Along with many churches, St. James offers a Lent course together with extra services and a Quiet Day. These are opportunities to reflect, ponder, take stock. The characteristic features of Lent are self-examination, penitence, self-denial, study and preparation.

Traditionally, Christians visited their 'mother church' and took gifts to their mothers, which often included a simnel cake (a light fruit cake, similar to a Christmas cake, covered in marzipan).

Also, many churches traditionally read about Jesus feeding the five thousand and so it used to be called 'Refreshment Sunday'. It became a time for family reunions and gatherings as many Christians remembered Jesus' own mother, Mary.

There’s a Jewish saying: God could not be everywhere, and therefore He made mothers. Mother Church, Mother Earth, Mother of the Gods, our human mothers - all of them have been part of the celebration of ‘Mothering Sunday’. With the arrival of Christianity, the festival became one honouring Mother Church. During the Middle Ages, young people apprenticed to craftsmen or working as ‘live-in’ servants were allowed only one holiday a year on which to visit their families - on ‘Mothering Sunday’.