From Helen
So we are in Lent and the first Sunday of it. Lent is one of the great seasons in the Church when we take time to take stock of our lives, to consider where we stand with God and other people.
Lent is traditionally the time when we give something up and take something up. This means we give up anything that takes us away from God and take up something which will bring us closer to God.
I remember in one Church where we worked a teenage girl explained to me that she was finding lent really hard. She had given up chocolate and had done so for two weeks, she asked me in a very exasperated way when lent was due to end. I had to explain to her that it wasn’t due to start for another two weeks !!
Anyway, we are definitely in lent and you can tell this because we haven’t sung the Gloria or the Alleluia and the reason is that we are getting ready for Easter. It is a somber time. I was speaking to a friend the other day and I asked him the best way that I could describe this time and he said, it is like taking a deep breath.
He said when you are about to sing really loudly you take a deep breath. He said not singing the Gloria or the Alleluia during lent is like taking a deep breath ready to rejoice at Easter.
I loved the idea of lent as being a time to take a deep breath. This morning in our gospel reading (Luke 4:1-13) we heard of the temptations of Jesus. Straight after His baptism Jesus went into the wilderness to take time, to reflect before He entered into His public ministry.
Jesus took time, He took a breath and this is what we are doing as well. Jesus was then tempted by all the things that would take Him away from God the Father, all that would stop Him trusting, all that would take Him away from His mission to bring us salvation.
Jesus took a breath and in taking a breath He was tempted but He stayed strong and He did it for us. He was tempted into an easier life, He was tempted into a life that would make Him seem more popular with everyone and not just His followers. He was tempted to trust in worldly power and authority. He refused and He did it by showing that His way was better.
We are taking a deep breath and in our time of taking a deep breath, we are taking time to reflect on our relationship with God.
To do this I want to think about the important words we can use in our relationship with God.
Six important words in any relationship are "I admit I made a mistake." Before God we know that we are not perfect and we know that we need His forgiveness, we can also know that when we come to God with our failings He will forgive us and love us.
Five important words in any relationship are "You did a good job." Well, I only need to look in a mirror to know that God did a good job ! Seriously though God has done a good job, look at creation, think about the best things in your life, think about the ways in which God has been with you and protected you. Yes, God has indeed done a good job.
Four important words in any relationship are "What do you think?" I often find these the hardest words in my relationship with God. I like to say that I ask God for His guidance, however sometimes when I ask I just carry on anyway and hope that God will catch up with me and what I am doing.
Three important words in any relationship are “After you please." This means not just listening to God, but following him, letting Him take control - it is about letting God really come into your life. When we do this we have to be ready to be transformed into people who God saw as possibilities but perhaps we could never even imagine !
Two important words in any relationship are "Thank you." When we admit how much God has done for us, when we let Him take control then we can and must say thank you.
One important word in a relationship is "We". When we spend time with God, when we try to be more like Him, when we come to Him in prayer, it is about we. It is about letting go of the I and it is about walking with God. Knowing that He is with us always and that He loves us.
By looking at our relationship with God in these type of ways, we can start our time in lent of getting closer to Him by taking a deep breath and by spending our time showing Him love. By being prepared to let God make a difference in our lives and then in stillness, or however we find it best to pray saying “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.”
Lent is one season of the year – and we shouldn’t really do anything in Lent that we don’t do at other times in the year, but it is a time to especially concentrate on our relationship with God and how we can improve that relationship – not just for the days of lent but for all eternity.
By doing this, we can then be empowered to go out into the World, reinvigorated in our relationship with God, finding ways of making this World a better place and finding ways of sharing God’s love and mercy.
And so may we, this lent, make it our prayer to take a deep breath and draw closer to God. In doing this may we be more like Him, may we pray for a change in the world, and pray for all those around us who are in need. AMEN
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