Ash Wednesday

I've just come across this. I suspect it might be even too speedy a sermon for some of you, but there is a lot in it: A 2-minute guide to Lent. It's encouraging to read both an editorial and a comment-is-free article in today's Guardian about Lent. I think militant atheism, ironically, might be succeeding in putting the Christian faith back into the public arena. "God works in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform..."!

The editorial about preparing for death ends: "Those who give things up for Lent often use it as a time for cheery self-improvement. Priests and existentialist Israeli film directors will not agree on the answers to life's questions, but they share the view that we cannot resolve the meaning of life by not asking the question of death."


The article, which you can read here, by the theologian, Jane Williams, briefly outlines the story of Jesus' 40 days in the desert. "This is how the New Testament tells it, and that's why Jesus's followers 'do' Lent. For a few weeks, we try to see that the world doesn't crumble if we don't have everything we want; we try to make ourselves and our resources that little bit more available for ends other than our own." And it ends like this: "That's a far cry from giving up chocolate or coffee for Lent, but there is really no point at all in a Lenten discipline that isn't about reimagining the world so that it revolves less about our own desires and more about the good of all. When Lent ends, that vision of the world doesn't. It's a world that is less about what I want, and more about what we all need, in which the good life for me is unimaginable unless it is also the good life for you."

Shrove Tuesday

I liked today's Facebook status from the nuns who live near here at East Hendred. They are looking forward to Lent (which starts tomorrow) so positively. Their mention of confession reminded me that the word Shrove is the past tense of the old word "shrive", which means to seek forgiveness through confession. "Today, Shrove Tuesday, we pray for all who will be keeping Carnival, all who will be making their pre-Lenten confession, and all who have not yet thought about Lent. Lent is such a time a grace - we don't want to waste a minute of it!" 


I don't know the origin of Carnival - or Mardi Gras - as today is also celebrated. Maybe it's the celebration of the assurance of forgivenness, or maybe it's the final blow-out before six weeks of fasting - which, by the way, I discovered last week, has proven physical as well as spiritual benefits (Fasting protects your brain). Maybe it's an unrestrained version of our very reserved Pancake Day, using up the goodies in the larder before Lent.

A friend of mine is taking up "exercise" for Lent. Her friends are intrigued by which dimension she's going to exercise in. I suspect she means simply physical, but its point will be to focus more on God. Which is what the nuns mean by Lent being a time of grace - a time when we can make extra time to be more aware of His presence in our daily lives, whether by giving something up or by doing something different. And the great thing is that as we do that for 40-odd days, it becomes part of our lives that sticks. You may not succeed 100% in your good intentions, if you're human! And that's why today is such a good preparation for Lent, as it reassures us that we are normal when we fail, but God is extraordinary in his faithfulness:
"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us" (1 John 1.8-10).


Here's praying we all find Lent a time of grace.