Audio Glossary: L

Lakshmi
Female deity within Hinduism, consort of Vishnu and goddess of good luck, beauty and wealth.
langar
Sikh Gurdwaras always provide free food for visitors and this institution, the food, the kitchen and the place where the food is eaten, will all be referred to as langar, or more properly as Guru-ka-langar.
Last Judgement
Christian belief that at the end of time, when there is a general resurrection of souls, a last judgement decides the final destiny of the resurrected, i.e. eternal bliss in heaven or eternal damnation in hell.
Lent
Within Christianity a period of forty days of fasting leading up to Easter.
Liturgy, the
Expression for the Eucharist preferred by Orthodox Christians: more generally the word refers to the form worship takes.
Lord's Prayer, the
A prayer Jesus taught to his followers and which is said almost universally by Christians. It begins, "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name".
lotus
In many cultures, a symbol of superhuman or divine birth issuing unsullied from muddy water. In Hinduism and Buddhism a symbol of purity. On the threshold of a temple it signifies the dwelling place of the divine and the state of purity and devotion required of the devotee.
Lutheran
Those denominations and Christians whose theology, liturgy and form of denominational organisation derive from the teachings of Martin Luther (1483 – 1546).