Minister’s Letter - Lent 2020
Dear friends,
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness where for forty days he was tempted by the Devil."
As I am sure most of you are aware, these words begin the passage of the Bible, that is the one that starts the part of the church year, that is called Lent. The 40 days and forty nights that Jesus spent in the wilderness are the "blueprint" that churches use to define how Christians should spend the period of Lent that comes directly before the great feast of Easter.
For our Lord the period in the desert was undoubtedly a difficult time. The desert sun was hot, there was nothing to eat and Luke’s Gospel says that our Lord was "famished" and throughout all this time he was being tempted by the Devil. With our Lord’s temptations and all that he had to go through, one can be forgiven for thinking that this period of Lent must always be a sad time.
Although there is an element of sadness in the Lenten period, as we reflect on our Lord’s anguish and temptations, I believe that Lent can become a time of hope, renewal, and opportunity as we reflect on what it is that God requires of us.
Our lives will often, and do, contain elements of sadness and conflict, and I would be lying if over the years I said that I have never experienced these emotions. We all face hardship and sorrow, just like our Lord did, although to compare our own sufferings to that of our Lord’s would be arrogant in the extreme.
Our Lord survived the Devil’s tricks by having complete faith and trust in the Lord our God, his and our heavenly Father. Through turning to his Father, and trusting in the things that his faith taught him, when facing the temptations and all the trials of ministry which Jesus faced, and when being tempted by the Devil, it was the words of the bible, and the knowledge of the love of God for him that saw Jesus through.
Lent does not have to be a sad time; it can be a time of hope and opportunity to renew our faith in the Lord, a time to reflect and study and to discern what it is that our Lord requires of us, and we can do this through prayer and study.
At Lent many people give something up, i.e. chocolate or smoking or something that they will struggle to do without, something that they have come to rely on. There is nothing wrong with this way of keeping Lent as it is a practical form of identification with our Lord’s suffering. But more modern thinking suggests that rather than give something up we should be encouraged to give something back to society and over the last few years, myself and members of my churches, have been involved in something called 40 Acts that operate throughout the season of Lent and you can sign up to it via the internet. Over the years I have found it to be helpful and informative and on a practical level it has deepened my faith. Details can be found at the bottom of the page.
Lent then, is not a time to beat ourselves up about how we live our lives, and who we are as we live them, but instead a chance, to make ourselves better able to face whatever hardship comes our way. Nor should we wallow in our own wilderness, but instead it should be used as a time to make ourselves ready to face Jesus with joy when he comes in glory at Easter and to make ourselves ready in the meantime to cope with the times that we may feel that we are in the wilderness during this Lenten season.
Yours in Christ,
Peter
40 Acts - https://40acts.org.uk/about/what-is-lent/
Dear friends,
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness where for forty days he was tempted by the Devil."
As I am sure most of you are aware, these words begin the passage of the Bible, that is the one that starts the part of the church year, that is called Lent. The 40 days and forty nights that Jesus spent in the wilderness are the "blueprint" that churches use to define how Christians should spend the period of Lent that comes directly before the great feast of Easter.
For our Lord the period in the desert was undoubtedly a difficult time. The desert sun was hot, there was nothing to eat and Luke’s Gospel says that our Lord was "famished" and throughout all this time he was being tempted by the Devil. With our Lord’s temptations and all that he had to go through, one can be forgiven for thinking that this period of Lent must always be a sad time.
Although there is an element of sadness in the Lenten period, as we reflect on our Lord’s anguish and temptations, I believe that Lent can become a time of hope, renewal, and opportunity as we reflect on what it is that God requires of us.
Our lives will often, and do, contain elements of sadness and conflict, and I would be lying if over the years I said that I have never experienced these emotions. We all face hardship and sorrow, just like our Lord did, although to compare our own sufferings to that of our Lord’s would be arrogant in the extreme.
Our Lord survived the Devil’s tricks by having complete faith and trust in the Lord our God, his and our heavenly Father. Through turning to his Father, and trusting in the things that his faith taught him, when facing the temptations and all the trials of ministry which Jesus faced, and when being tempted by the Devil, it was the words of the bible, and the knowledge of the love of God for him that saw Jesus through.
Lent does not have to be a sad time; it can be a time of hope and opportunity to renew our faith in the Lord, a time to reflect and study and to discern what it is that our Lord requires of us, and we can do this through prayer and study.
At Lent many people give something up, i.e. chocolate or smoking or something that they will struggle to do without, something that they have come to rely on. There is nothing wrong with this way of keeping Lent as it is a practical form of identification with our Lord’s suffering. But more modern thinking suggests that rather than give something up we should be encouraged to give something back to society and over the last few years, myself and members of my churches, have been involved in something called 40 Acts that operate throughout the season of Lent and you can sign up to it via the internet. Over the years I have found it to be helpful and informative and on a practical level it has deepened my faith. Details can be found at the bottom of the page.
Lent then, is not a time to beat ourselves up about how we live our lives, and who we are as we live them, but instead a chance, to make ourselves better able to face whatever hardship comes our way. Nor should we wallow in our own wilderness, but instead it should be used as a time to make ourselves ready to face Jesus with joy when he comes in glory at Easter and to make ourselves ready in the meantime to cope with the times that we may feel that we are in the wilderness during this Lenten season.
Yours in Christ,
Peter
40 Acts - https://40acts.org.uk/about/what-is-lent/
