The foreheads of some students at Seattle Pacific University bore crosses of ash on Feb. 14, Ash Wednesday. This visual emblem of Christianity joined purple banners outside Alexander and Adelaide Hall to make the Christian identity of SPU and many of its students visible for the season of Lent.
The 40-day period, 46 with Sundays, is about following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, according to senior Kyler Granados, a double major in Christian theology and Honors.
“Prayer, and fasting, and service,” Granados said. “That’s the point of Lent.”
Beginning with Ash Wednesday, the season was commemorated with a lunchtime service put on by the School of Theology and Granados, additionally ASSP’s Officer of Ministries. His penitence-focused reflection, which, according to him, “turned into a bit of a sermon, but that’s okay,” was followed by faculty and student reflections.
“The intention was that it would be more student-led,” Granados said. “My hope was that it would feel like a great blessing for staff and faculty to be served by students.”
The service ended as a mix of students, staff and faculty exiting in lines together, bowing their heads to receive ashes from Granados and two other students on the way out.
“My experience imparting ashes as a student was unforgettable,” said Taylor-Rose Moananu, junior political science and sociology double major. “I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to participate in the welcoming of such a significant season.”
The season of Lent leads up to Holy Week, including Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and finally, Easter. For 2024, a physical representation of the moving season decorates the stoop just outside Alexander and Adelaide Hall — striking banners of purple, a color of penitence and repentance in the Christian faith.
Cadence Moore, a first year in SPU’s seminary and assistant to the dean for special projects, designed fourteen banners with seven Psalms for seven weeks, with an eighth for Easter. For the first week of Lent, the two banners, double-sided, read Psalm 6.
O LORD, DO NOT REBUKE ME IN YOUR ANGER …
YAHWEH, HUWAG MO AKONG SUMBATAN NANG DAHIL LAMANG SA CALIT …
NO ME REPRENDAS, SEÑOR, EN TU IRA …
耶和華啊求你不要在烈恕中責備我 …
To reflect SPU’s diversity of students, Moore used scripture in four languages: English, Tagalog, Spanish and Mandarin. Moore and the School of Theology hope that students not participating in the liturgical calendar will still notice and be a part of SPU’s Christian elements.
Moore feels the Christian identity of SPU has been separated from students over the past few years. She hopes, with these banners, to help bring it back.
“For young people developing the sense of self and identity, it’s so important to latch onto something that is good,” Moore said. “And for me, I believe that is the Christian faith, and the signs and symbols we claim.”
Christians often choose to give up or fast from something during Lent in order to exemplify the sacrifice of Christ, according to Granados. This year, Granados is giving up YouTube.
“I have a mixed relationship with YouTube,” said Granados, who uses it mostly for sermons or Church-related videos. “However, I won’t deny there’s also some stand-up comedy and pop-culture stuff about film and music on my feed, and YouTube ‘shorts’ are a terrible time-sinker, a distraction, a hindrance.”
Moore is fasting more literally — she and her roommate are following the “Daniel Fast,” in which they exemplify the simplistic diet chosen by Biblical hero Daniel in the face of Babylon’s rich, overcrowded tables.
“You know, like we were gonna have vegetables and whole grains also. Part of it is the health, part of it is that drawing back and remembering what the season is for,” Moore said. “What I put into my body is also a reminder of God’s presence.”
