Reflection - A Thought For The Month
Lent 2010
February 18, 2010
Ash Wednesday, 17th February, is the first day of Lent. During Lent we prepare for Easter, when Christians celebrate the rising from the dead of Jesus by prayer and fasting and the giving of alms to the poor. Forty days of penance. Forty days of renewal of our relationship with God.
The church’s readings during the season of Lent speak of the glory of creation, and the preciousness of every human being. We are asked to love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. And we are asked to love our neighbour as ourself.
In our Lenten reading, not only of the Bible in following the lectionary readings for the season of Lent, but also in books recommended by others for our Lenten reading (I have recommended two books later) I hope it will open up the word of God to us, a word that invites us to a new way of seeing, a conversion of heart, and a renewed determination to create a just world.
So let us in our Lenten reading try to discover what the first things are, and to commit ourselves to do the first things first. So in a personal way are love, justice, forgiveness, prayer the things that really matter to me? What sort of person am I - and what sort of person do I want to be? Is getting to know God the real passion of my life? Is prayer and the search for justice at the heart of my life?
Each time we catch the eye of a person in need, each time we meet a hungry person, each time we listen to a stranger’s story, we are meeting Jesus. Each time we stop for a moment and pay attention, each time we listen, each time we help, we are meeting Jesus, and the door of heaven opens for a few seconds.
In listening and watching and serving others we do not ‘find God’ but discover that God has been there all the time. Closer to us than the air we breathe.
I have chosen the following two books for my Lenten reading and warmly recommend them.
THE THINGS HE SAID - The story of the first Easter Day by Stephen Cottrell
Many a popular Good Friday devotion is based upon Jesus’ seven last words from the cross. But there isn’t the same emphasis on the words Jesus spoke on Easter Day - words, as it were, from an empty tomb. Following the resurrection, we would expect the triumphant ‘I have risen from the dead!’ Yet Jesus’ statements are so different, so apparently unremarkable, that they are often overlooked.
Each Gospel gives a different account of the very first words of the risen Lord. This book reveals how these words, and the events that followed, speak to us as powerfully as the words from the cross. They illuminate our understanding of the resurrection, helping us to penetrate its meaning and significance. They also speak of God’s purpose for us today as we try to discover what it means to be an Easter people.
The Christian faith stands or falls on the resurrection of Jesus; without it, says St Paul, we are to be most pitied. In this revelatory book of surprising reflections, Stephen Cottrell’s retelling of the Easter story encourages us to slow down and hear it properly - perhaps for the very first time.
Stephen Cottrell is Bishop of Reading. The book is published by SPCK ISBN 978-0-281-06197-6 (£6.99) NB. I will be using this book at our fortnightly Wednesday Morning Lent Group following the 9.30am Communion Service.
STRANGELY WARMED - Reflections on God, Life and Bric-a-Brac by Andrew Rumsey
Strangely Warmed is a collection of short pieces which take a wry look at the word and reflect on questions of faith that arise from the everyday. The advertising slogan, the church jumble sale, the Routemaster bus: all can unexpectedly bring us closer to God.
Andrew Rumsey is Vicar of Gipsy Hill in South London. The book is published by Mowbray ISBN 978-1-44113-068-6 (£9.99)
A PRAYER for LENT Lord Jesus, as I reflect on the shortcomings of my own life and ask your forgiveness, help me realise that you are always with me on my sometimes difficult journey through life. Let me remember that you are beside me, and before me and behind me each and every day of my life. Amen.
Please read the NOTICES for Lent, Holy Week and Easter services and other seasonal activities (will also be posted on the church notice board and church website).
For further information please do not hesitate to contact me.
Tony Willis Email: revwillis@btinternet.com tel. 01296 431934
Past Reflections
February 2010 - Lent 2010
November 2009 - The Message of Christmas
August 2009 - God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform
August 2008 - Down on the Farm (House) ...
January 2008 - Reflection for Jan 2008
October 2006 - Now there’s a thought …
June 2006 - Trinity Sunday
May 2006 - I read these words..
March 2006 - Easter 2006
December 2005 - Christmas 2005
August 2005 - Angels
July 2005 - Live 8 - Make Poverty History
June 2005 - St. Trinians
December 2004 - Tell of what you are hearing and seeing
December 2004 - Preparing the road for the Lord (Human Rights Day – 10 December)
November 2004 - Tale of the Innkeeper
June 2004 - Euro2004
April 2004 - Easter 2004
March 2004 - Archbishop Oscar Romera – Liberation Theologian and Martyr of the Faith
