Minister’s Letter, Lent 2019
Dear Friends,
How time flies!
As I write, Spring is in the air and all the weather reports say that it is unseasonably warm for this time of the year and with the start of Spring comes the season in the Churches year that is Lent which begins on the 6th of March which is Ash Wednesday.
In the Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions, Ash Wednesday is considered an important day, as it is in our own tradition. During the Ash Wednesday service, the vicar puts ashes on the congregations’ foreheads and makes the sign of the cross saying the words "repent and believe" (Mark 1 verse 15) or “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3 verse 19). The words from Genesis are similar to the words used at a burial where the words are “dust to dust, ashes to ashes”.
For many years as a child of a vicarage family I had to attend Ash Wednesday services like the one I have described above. They were dramatic and powerful although I am not entirely sure I understood everything that was going on but even at that young age I was in awe of the drama of the service.
Not many URC Churches have Ash Wednesday services in quite the same way as our Anglican and Roman Catholic friends but of course we do honour and respect the season of Lent and South Aston URC is soon to begin a Lent bible study, while I am also involved in Lent studies with the Perry Barr Churches Together of which Wilton Road is part.
When I was at theological college we had to choose between studying Greek or Hebrew for a year and I chose Hebrew and it was a daunting and strange experience because the language is very different from our own. For a start the words start on the right hand side of the page and are read right to left; in other words from our perspective backwards!
A Hebrew book similarly starts on what we consider the last page and ends on the first. All very confusing especially for a dyslexic like myself, although to a Jewish reader of course, it is us rather than them who have got things muddled!
I have often felt during the season of Lent that sometimes as Christians we are on occasions approaching things the wrong way round, just like I had to do whilst studying Hebrew.
Seeing Lent as a time of self-denial and yes that is rooted in the season of Lent and is part of it if we want it to be. And that is reflected by the time our Lord spent in the wilderness being tempted which was a challenge to him but whilst he was there he renounced the world if you like, and accepted his Father’s challenge to preach the good news to anyone who would listen.
As well as striving to resist temptation, surely Lent also calls us to make a fuller commitment to our Lord’s teaching and to reflect on our Christian faith.
And part of the season of Lent I believe is about what we can do rather than what it is that we cannot do. So what does that mean in practice? Well I believe the possibilities are endless. It may be this Lent, that God wants us simply to commit ourselves more firmly to Christ. Or perhaps he is asking us to take on some extra responsibility, to respond to a sense of calling, or to get more involved in our local community to help a neighbour, show concern for a friend, volunteer to work at a local foodbank or homeless charity etc, support a local charity, whatever it is, I believe Lent means more than merely giving something up. It’s also about taking something on.
As in previous years, there is an organisation called 40 acts which I have signed up to which issues small challenges during the season of Lent. I find it helpful and challenging and I know members of my Churches also find it helpful.
Yours in Christ
Peter
Dear Friends,
How time flies!
As I write, Spring is in the air and all the weather reports say that it is unseasonably warm for this time of the year and with the start of Spring comes the season in the Churches year that is Lent which begins on the 6th of March which is Ash Wednesday.
In the Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions, Ash Wednesday is considered an important day, as it is in our own tradition. During the Ash Wednesday service, the vicar puts ashes on the congregations’ foreheads and makes the sign of the cross saying the words "repent and believe" (Mark 1 verse 15) or “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3 verse 19). The words from Genesis are similar to the words used at a burial where the words are “dust to dust, ashes to ashes”.
For many years as a child of a vicarage family I had to attend Ash Wednesday services like the one I have described above. They were dramatic and powerful although I am not entirely sure I understood everything that was going on but even at that young age I was in awe of the drama of the service.
Not many URC Churches have Ash Wednesday services in quite the same way as our Anglican and Roman Catholic friends but of course we do honour and respect the season of Lent and South Aston URC is soon to begin a Lent bible study, while I am also involved in Lent studies with the Perry Barr Churches Together of which Wilton Road is part.
When I was at theological college we had to choose between studying Greek or Hebrew for a year and I chose Hebrew and it was a daunting and strange experience because the language is very different from our own. For a start the words start on the right hand side of the page and are read right to left; in other words from our perspective backwards!
A Hebrew book similarly starts on what we consider the last page and ends on the first. All very confusing especially for a dyslexic like myself, although to a Jewish reader of course, it is us rather than them who have got things muddled!
I have often felt during the season of Lent that sometimes as Christians we are on occasions approaching things the wrong way round, just like I had to do whilst studying Hebrew.
Seeing Lent as a time of self-denial and yes that is rooted in the season of Lent and is part of it if we want it to be. And that is reflected by the time our Lord spent in the wilderness being tempted which was a challenge to him but whilst he was there he renounced the world if you like, and accepted his Father’s challenge to preach the good news to anyone who would listen.
As well as striving to resist temptation, surely Lent also calls us to make a fuller commitment to our Lord’s teaching and to reflect on our Christian faith.
And part of the season of Lent I believe is about what we can do rather than what it is that we cannot do. So what does that mean in practice? Well I believe the possibilities are endless. It may be this Lent, that God wants us simply to commit ourselves more firmly to Christ. Or perhaps he is asking us to take on some extra responsibility, to respond to a sense of calling, or to get more involved in our local community to help a neighbour, show concern for a friend, volunteer to work at a local foodbank or homeless charity etc, support a local charity, whatever it is, I believe Lent means more than merely giving something up. It’s also about taking something on.
As in previous years, there is an organisation called 40 acts which I have signed up to which issues small challenges during the season of Lent. I find it helpful and challenging and I know members of my Churches also find it helpful.
Yours in Christ
Peter
