Want to do Lent differently?

This time next week it will be pancake day - Shrove Tuesday, which means that a week tomorrow (Ash Wednesday) it will be the beginning of Lent.

The time of Lent has different significance in different church traditions, so even if you go to church regularly you may not know very much about Lent at all.

So just in case you need some background here is a quick summary.

Lent is the time in the church calendar that runs from Ash Wednesday through to Easter. Traditionally Lent is the period of preparation in the run up to the events of Easter - the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. A time of reflection and repentance - which in certain church traditions is often accompanied by fasting.

Lent lasts for 40 days but if you've looked at a calendar you will have noticed that there are actually 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. That's because the six Sundays during this time do not count as days of fasting - Sundays are always a day of celebration as we remember the resurrection.

Many people, even those with little or no church contact, will give something up for Lent - often this will be chocolate, although in recent years we have been encouraged to be a little bit more imaginative, giving up things like Facebook or television. Within some cultures it is common to go without fish for Lent. Other cultures with have different traditions. This 'doing without' builds on the fasting element that is traditionally a part of Lent.

Another trend over recent years has been to see Lent as a time to do something positive instead of/as well as giving something up. As we look ahead to God's love and generosity displayed in the Easter story it motivates us to be loving and generous.

The 40Acts campaign has been running for a number of years now and encourages those who sign up to complete 40 acts of generosity over the 40 days of Lent. To make a difference in our communities by performing little acts of kindness that can make a real difference in people's lives. 

If you want to know more or you want to sign up click here to visit the 40Acts website.

Core Value: Loving

Over the last few Sundays at CBC we have been recapping and reviewing our Vision. For the next seven Sundays we're going to be looking at our seven Core Values. The Core Values are:

Loving, Welcoming, Missional, Servant-hearted, Biblical, Spirit-led and Prayerful

Whereas a Vision is about a destination - this is what God is calling us to - our Values are about who we are. And so in terms of decision making our Vision helps us by forcing us to ask the question, 'is doing X going to help us in our journey to become ...?' But our Values help us in our decision making process because they force us to reflect on who we are - and it is this knowledge that shapes how we act and respond.

Although these values are not listed in any kind of order of priority it is appropriate that we start with love. Jesus taught his disciples that the whole of the law hangs on two commands - to love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; and to love your neighbour as yourself (e.g. Luke 10:25-37).

Later in the New Testament, Paul teaches that no matter how gifted we are, or what we are able to achieve, unless we are acting in love it is all of no more value than the noise of a clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).

There are many people in today's world who have a very mixed up view of what love looks like. Fortunately, as we read through the gospels we discover what love looks like - in the person of Jesus. God is not just loving - God is love (1 John 4:16).

But this picture of love that we discover in the gospels is both comforting and challenging. It is comforting to know that even though God knows everything there is to know about us Jesus still loved us so much that he was prepared to die on the cross (Romans 5:8).

But it is challenging to know that we are called to love in this totally giving, self-sacrificial way. Demonstrating our love to our enemies as well as our friends.

But this is only possible when we know that we are loved by God. We are only able to love because God has loved us first (1 John 4:19). Everything that we do has to be motivated out of love. Our actions are our response to the love of God that we have already experienced.

So everything that we do and everything that we say is shaped by our knowledge and experience of God's love for us, our love for God and a genuine love for others.

Revisiting our Vision

This Sunday morning here at CBC we're going to begin a new series looking at our Vision and Values. We spent time working and praying together at the end of 2015 to put a new Vision in place, and this was adopted by the church at the beginning of 2016. But I am aware that although we explored this is some detail here on this blog we have not yet done so on a Sunday morning or in home groups. And also there are quite a few people around in the church now who were not here at the end of 2015 and start of 2016 - so how good have we been at communicating our vision to them?

A vision is not about where we are - but about where we want to be. Our vision states:

Seeking to be an authentic community of disciples, becoming more like Jesus - walking in step with God, alongside each other and seeing lives transformed.

So, one year in, how are we doing? We have deliberately used the image of a journey - walking - in our Vision. How far have we come in 2016? Are there areas where we're doing well, and others that are still lagging behind? How do the decisions that we will be taking this year fit in with this Vision?

This Sunday we're going to be thinking about what it means to be an authentic community of disciples - walking in step with each other.

If you want to remind yourselves of what we said a year ago start with this link here and then click on the individual words to unpack the Vision in more detail.

A simple scale

Here's a great little clip to wish you a very Happy Christmas.