Minister’s Letter – Lent – February 2024
Dear friends,
How quickly the churches seasons fly by. It is hard to believe that we, in a weeks’ time, begin the season of Lent. Lent begins on 14th February 2024 (incidentally the same day as Valentine's Day …. not sure if this has ever happened before!)
The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and the gospel reading for this Ash Wednesday is Matthew 6 verses 1-6 and verses 16-18, which talks about praying in secret.
I always find it slightly ironic that after being told to pray in secret in the Matthew reading, many believers leave the church marked with a cross on their foreheads, which is traditionally what the Anglicans and Roman Catholics do in their Ash Wednesday services; the Ashes representing a symbol of penance and humility, which I always think is a bit of a giveaway as to where they have been, since our Lord tells us to carry out good deeds, pray, give alms and fast secretly.
But our Lord does not say if you pray or fast but when you pray and fast. There is an expectation that we should dedicate some time to "extra" prayer, some form of fasting, or giving up something, which is traditional amongst believers during this period of Lent, and Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of that time. Lent is the time when we prepare for Easter, and we remember our Lord's temptations, and his fasting in the wilderness for 40 days.
However, we mustn't be seen to be doing this, because then we are parading our good deeds to attract attention.
Christians want to mark Lent in some way. We also want to avoid being seen to do so without boasting about it. We do not need to tell everybody about the good deeds that we are doing.
One of the questions we may struggle with, or if I am honest, I struggle with, during the Lenten season is "does our Lenten observance, help us to examine our lives honestly, and be sorry when we fall short? Yet more questions!
Does it bring us closer to God so that as Corinthians says we might become "the goodness of God!" And, does it help us to be reconciled to our God and to our neighbour, and is for example giving up sweets the best way to do it?
As I said earlier traditionally people do give up something that they will miss during this season, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that but it is not necessarily set in stone. Whatever helps you observe this particular season, prior to the festival of Easter, is up to you, and whatever it is that you choose to do is fine, especially if it brings you into a closer relationship with your God.
There is a school of thought that says, we do not need to give anything up, but put something back into our community and to our society that we live in. A few years ago there was an organisation called "40 acts of kindness" which operated during the season of Lent. It encouraged us to do a variety of good deeds on each day during Lent, and it also offered a relevant daily reflection I personally found helpful. Although that organisation is no longer operating there is no reason why we cannot do something similar in our own community during this Lenten season. Most churches during this time offer a Lent course which helps us prepare for the coming of Easter.
This year I am resisting giving something up for Lent, but I shall try to do something for Lent, which will deepen my relationship with God, and hopefully will help me travel with Jesus to Jerusalem and to the cross and so hopefully prepare for his resurrection and so celebrate the wonderful season that is Easter.
And maybe those people, in our Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions, who receive the cross of Ashes on their foreheads, may it remind them and us of the joy of forgiveness, in the hope of the resurrection which Easter brings.
Yours in Christ.
Peter
Dear friends,
How quickly the churches seasons fly by. It is hard to believe that we, in a weeks’ time, begin the season of Lent. Lent begins on 14th February 2024 (incidentally the same day as Valentine's Day …. not sure if this has ever happened before!)
The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and the gospel reading for this Ash Wednesday is Matthew 6 verses 1-6 and verses 16-18, which talks about praying in secret.
I always find it slightly ironic that after being told to pray in secret in the Matthew reading, many believers leave the church marked with a cross on their foreheads, which is traditionally what the Anglicans and Roman Catholics do in their Ash Wednesday services; the Ashes representing a symbol of penance and humility, which I always think is a bit of a giveaway as to where they have been, since our Lord tells us to carry out good deeds, pray, give alms and fast secretly.
But our Lord does not say if you pray or fast but when you pray and fast. There is an expectation that we should dedicate some time to "extra" prayer, some form of fasting, or giving up something, which is traditional amongst believers during this period of Lent, and Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of that time. Lent is the time when we prepare for Easter, and we remember our Lord's temptations, and his fasting in the wilderness for 40 days.
However, we mustn't be seen to be doing this, because then we are parading our good deeds to attract attention.
Christians want to mark Lent in some way. We also want to avoid being seen to do so without boasting about it. We do not need to tell everybody about the good deeds that we are doing.
One of the questions we may struggle with, or if I am honest, I struggle with, during the Lenten season is "does our Lenten observance, help us to examine our lives honestly, and be sorry when we fall short? Yet more questions!
Does it bring us closer to God so that as Corinthians says we might become "the goodness of God!" And, does it help us to be reconciled to our God and to our neighbour, and is for example giving up sweets the best way to do it?
As I said earlier traditionally people do give up something that they will miss during this season, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that but it is not necessarily set in stone. Whatever helps you observe this particular season, prior to the festival of Easter, is up to you, and whatever it is that you choose to do is fine, especially if it brings you into a closer relationship with your God.
There is a school of thought that says, we do not need to give anything up, but put something back into our community and to our society that we live in. A few years ago there was an organisation called "40 acts of kindness" which operated during the season of Lent. It encouraged us to do a variety of good deeds on each day during Lent, and it also offered a relevant daily reflection I personally found helpful. Although that organisation is no longer operating there is no reason why we cannot do something similar in our own community during this Lenten season. Most churches during this time offer a Lent course which helps us prepare for the coming of Easter.
This year I am resisting giving something up for Lent, but I shall try to do something for Lent, which will deepen my relationship with God, and hopefully will help me travel with Jesus to Jerusalem and to the cross and so hopefully prepare for his resurrection and so celebrate the wonderful season that is Easter.
And maybe those people, in our Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions, who receive the cross of Ashes on their foreheads, may it remind them and us of the joy of forgiveness, in the hope of the resurrection which Easter brings.
Yours in Christ.
Peter