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March 2005, Page 1.
Index of articles:
by subject,
by date.
In this issue:
(March 2005)
Lent,
Sunday Evenings,
Song,
Royal Wedding?
Observing Lent
I write on Pancake Tuesday evening, but the pancakes didn't happen this year in our house - I had a heavy cold and went to bed at tea-time, my wife had an evening meeting to go out to, Peter won't touch pancakes as they aren't his usual diet ... so we didn't think it worth the bother.
Why do people have pancakes? Originally it was to lead into "giving up things for Lent." Lent is the forty days before Holy Week, which begins on Palm Sunday.
Lent was originally a time of preparation. People who had newly decided to follow Jesus for themselves were often baptized at Easter. Before their baptism they made an effort to imitate Jesus' time in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11), with a time of self-denial and prayer. Later the whole church decided this annual preparation was a good idea, so all Christians used to fast and pray in Lent. (Mind you, they were quite hot on fasting in those days, and many of them used to do it weekly all year!)
But notice the idea of giving up things is only half the story! Self-denial will only make you self-righteous unless it is combined with God. It may be useful for getting the weight off, but life is more than the body, and by itself fasting is no more spiritually beneficial than going to the gym. The key point about Lent is this: we give up some things in order to make space for concentrating on the more important things.
So the invitation section of the Ash Wednesday service reminds us: "by a careful keeping of these days, all Christians might take to heart the call to repentance and the assurance of forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel, and so grow in faith and in devotion to the Lord."
How are you taking God's call to heart? I find I need a reminder for this. Last year we had pancakes every Tuesday in Lent - because it was different from usual, it reminded me every week that I was supposed to be focusing on God. What reminder could you use?
How are you growing in faith and devotion? For me, the courses I teach on Sunday evenings force me to focus again on God - Jesus comes alive in me as I teach others. You don't have to come on courses - you may find some entirely different way of taking spiritual steps - but I invite you to do something.
When you read this Lent will be well underway. But it's not too late to do something to refresh your walk with God.
John Hartley