1 February 2012

Dear Reader,

As I write this, Christmas has slipped into the past and Lent is appearing on the horizon. This year the season of Lent begins on the 22nd February. How will Lent affect you? Will it be 40 days of giving something up? Or will it be 40 days of consciously giving more time to your relationship with God? The Christian Church links the 40 days of Lent with the time that Jesus spent in the desert.

 

A few years ago I was fortunate enough to spend some time in a Middle Eastern desert. A place known as the Empty Quarter. The heat is the first thing that hits you. It is so hot during the day with the heat blasting you as if you have opened an oven door. We never experience such intensity of heat in the UK. The desert is a place of contrasts. From craggy, hostile rocks to endless, drifting sands. It is wild, rugged and unforgiving. It is spectacular and awe inspiring. It is known as the Empty Quarter for a very good reason - life seems unsustainable there - the void is dramatically impressive. It is a place where there are no home comforts - no easy living, just the harsh reality of life stripped bare. A place with no distractions, a place to focus one's mind.

 In the Old Testament the desert was where God prepared the children of Israel to be his people and to inherit his promises. In the New Testament it was where Jesus was prepared for the ministry that lay before him. Lent is a time that could be an opportunity for our own desert experience. Before you start getting too excited - that doesn't mean jeep safaris or Bedouin camps! It is where we can begin to prepare for Easter Week, when Christians recall the events that led to the Passion of Christ. This culminates at Easter when we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus was sent into the desert by the Spirit where he experienced temptation and hunger. He was being prepared by God for his future work. For that, God needed Jesus to know himself. St Mark deals with Jesus' temptation in two short sentences (Chapter 1 v12 - 13). You have to turn to the Gospels of St Matthew (Chapter 4 v1 - 11) and St Luke (Chapter 4 v1 - 13) to read about how the devil tempted him and how he resisted temptation.

 

 Sometimes it is helpful to seek the emptiness of the desert. Perhaps Lent is a good time to travel to your own desert. It could be a quiet place where you can retreat from the demands of the world and, just for a while, focus on God, His Word, His Kingdom, and the salvation that He has given to you and I. Lent could be that desert place where we can find who we really are, not the person we show our friends but the person that God knows.

Often we are so involved in our personas that the real person lies forgotten under a facade of who we want people to see. Perhaps Lent is the time to give something of yourself rather than to give something up.

 

 In your desert experience you may face temptation. You might want to take a short cut or to give up. Persevere if you can and seek something new from God. On the other hand, the opportunity might open up to do something for God. Lent is a time when our walk with God can be strengthened and deepened. If we give time to God, we will be better equipped to build His Kingdom on earth.

Yours in faith,                                                                                                                                                                Alan

 

Here is a prayer (courtesy of Roots issue 57) that might focus you on your journey:

 

God who calls us on the journey of Lent,
forgive us when we have been so wrapped up
with the beginnings of our journey of faith
that we have failed to let it flourish and grow.
God who calls us on the journey of Lent,
forgive us when we have been so comforted
by your affirmation and love for us
that we have failed to share that love with others.
God who calls us on the journey of Lent,
forgive us when we have been so caught up
with the day-to-day challenges of our own lives
that we have failed to live lives of justice and peace.

 

 God who calls us on the journey of Lent
forgive us when we have been so excited
to hear the good news for ourselves
that we have failed to be good news
for the people around us.
Forgive us and challenge us.
Send us out to forgive others
and to be the change you want to see
in our communities and our world.