Doing something for Lent?

Over the years I've posted and re-posted a number of posts on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday with a few thoughts on Lent. 

I come from a church tradition where Lent is not a thing. 

I'm now part of church tradition where Lent is still not officially a thing - but the church family is made up of people from all kinds of backgrounds who draw on all kinds of resources and influences. The idea of pausing and reflecting and preparing for the season of Easter seems like a good idea. It's certainly not a bad idea.

It's always good to have those points in the year where we stop and reflect. An opportunity to maybe reflect on what we're doing or not doing. What direction we're headed in. What our priorities are. An opportunity for a fresh start or a time of recommitment. And if nothing else, Lent provides us with one of those points in the year.

I mentioned on Sunday that I would flag up some resources for anyone who is wanting to do something a bit different from their normal pattern of spiritual disciplines over the next few weeks. So, here are a few ideas.

Lectio 365 from 24-7 Prayer

I know that many of you make use of the Lectio365 app. The app uses the model of PRAY - Pausing, Rejoicing and Reflecting, Asking and Yielding - each day to help us encounter God.
They will be starting their Lent series of readings, reflections and prayers tomorrow. If you've not used the app before you can find out more here - or head to the place where you normally get your apps and look for Lectio 365. They also have an app Lection 365 for Familes when is especially designed for ... families. Both these resources are from the 24-7 Prayer team.

The Lent Encounter from The Bible Society

Those of you who enjoyed Andrew Ollerton's 'The Bible Course' might be interested to take a look at 'The Lent Encounter' by the Bible Society. It promises:

• Andrew Ollerton takes us on a tour of the Holy Land with videos of places from some of the most significant points of Jesus' life. 
• Bible Society staff share personal reflections on themes such as love, rejection, hope and peace. 
• Prayers and conversation starters for you to reflect on and share with others.
• Weekly ‘Wonder Walks’ with a guide to explore God’s word and meditate as you walk.
• Go deeper in to God's word and consider some big life questions along the way

You can sign up at the link above.

Lent Devotional from Tearfund

Again, if daily emails are your thing then Tearfund provide a Lent devotional that promises bite-sized daily reflections, prayers and poems to help you draw nearer to God as we approach Easter.

If none of those ideas grabs you - there's plenty more out there.

Why do I do what I do? - Reflection 07

I'm a few weeks behind posting my weekly reflections - if you'd like to get these by email every Wednesday then please get in touch and let me have your email address.

According to Shakespeare, “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”  If Shakespeare had been writing in the Greek of the New Testament the final word in this sentence would have been ‘hypocrite’. Our word hypocrite comes directly from the Greek word for an actor. So when Jesus tells his disciples not to be like the hypocrites he is telling them to make sure that they’re not living some kind of lie – where the inside and the outside of their lives don’t match up. On Sunday we were looking at Jesus’ teaching on giving to the needy, prayer and fasting from Matthew 6:1-18. If you’ve not listened yet then you’ll find it here. Jesus’ assumption was that giving to the needy, prayer and fasting were all things that his disciples would do. His disciples were Jewish, his audience was Jewish and these were all aspects of Jewish life. And so Jesus is not trying to convince his disciples that if they want to become more like him they need to start caring for those in need, spending time in prayer and fasting.  His assumption was that they would be doing these things. But he wanted them to make sure that their motives were right. That they were wanting to do these things out of their love for God and their desire to be more like Jesus. The hypocrites on the other hand were doing these things to be seen by others and to win their applause.  Within our culture there is a very high probability that people will need to be taught biblical principles for giving, praying and fasting – and we’re going to be looking at these topics again next week, and on the 13th and 6th March respectively. But our motives for why we do what we do can be very complex. On Sunday I used the example of running. I’ve not run for several months because of a niggling injury that won’t go away – but when I was running there was never just one motive that got me out of the door. Sometimes if it was a really nice day I might just decide to go for a run because it is something that I enjoy. I enjoy the freedom, the countryside and I know that when I get back I will feel better than when I left. But if it’s dark, and I can hear the rain on the window, and the wind is blowing, then getting out of a comfy, warm bed sometimes just didn’t happen. Things that would help in that situation would be the knowledge that I was training for a specific event that people knew about. Or being involved in some online competition or challenge that meant I needed to log a run that morning. When it comes to our spiritual life I expect it is as equally challenging to try and untangle our motives for why we do what we do. Whilst we might agree that love for God, love for others and a desire to follow Jesus are the right motives for what we do there’s probably a lot more in the mix. Whilst we agree that it is only God’s opinion that matters I’m sure we are all effected by what others think and say. Doing my Bible reading because I’ve committed to reading the Bible in a year and I need to tick the box isn’t a right motive for reading the Bible – but reading the Bible is preferable to not reading the Bible. At least I am putting myself in a place where God can talk to me. I could go on – but I won’t. Keeping the commandments outwardly is one thing. Making sure our heart is right at the same time is something else altogether. Something that is only possible with the work of the Holy Spirit. Thankfully God is gracious and merciful and forgiving. And patient. Our loving heavenly Father. Within that context let’s examine our hearts to see why we do what we do. And invite the Holy Spirit to challenge and change us where necessary.