LENT

Dear Friends,

As we all know very well, this year Lent follows in the wake of one of the most dramatic and tragic natural disasters in recent times; the terrible earthquake in Haiti. Quite rightly, such a disaster provokes and desperately needs widespread publicity, so that we can all try to help in any way we can. Similarly, Lent 2005 came in the wake of the tsunami in south-east Asia and we were able to witness on our television screens the aftermath of that tragedy and offer our assistance and our prayers. But maybe this season is also the time to remember that the poor and the needy and the desperate are always with us, just as Jesus said. Maybe Lent is a good time to recall and pray for those whose lives are tragic on a daily basis, year-in-year-out. So many in our world live and die in war-torn regions. So many die because of hunger, poor health care and infectious diseases. And then there are those who live in fear and persecution because of tyrannical regimes, without the freedom taken for granted in many parts of the world. I could continue.

So why am I beginning a Lenten message with a catalogue of our world’s sadnesses and disasters? Well it’s certainly not because I want us all to spend this season feeling helpless and hopeless. And yet we all know that Lent was never intended to be a comfortable season, but rather a time of challenge. The word Lent is derived from an old English word meaning 'springtime.' The Latin adverb lente means 'slowly.' On the basis of etymology alone, Lent signals the onset of spring and Lent Symbolinvites us to slow down our pace, to gather our thoughts, to take stock of our lives, to begin once again to put things in their proper perspective. And whatever our attitudes to sackcloth and ashes, giving up chocolate, or even wine, I really hope and pray that this Lent will bring us some kind of spiritual challenge. That’s why our Lent course in Cathays this year will hopefully take us outside our comfort zones. Not a Tame Lion, based around the writings of C. S. Lewis and particularly focusing on Aslan, who WAS NOT tame by any means, will hopefully bring us closer to the Jesus of the Gospels, who was not always comfortable and rarely without challenge.

Lent then could be seen as our wake up call to the newness that is Easter. And the first Easter followers of the Way understood very clearly what they were being called to do and to be. These early men and women understood that they were commissioned to be witnesses to the love of God for humanity. And in this sense then, newness means a time of remembering and unearthing a new understanding of what need to do as followers of Jesus. And so maybe as we go through another Lent, in the wake of another disaster, we could be positive and hopeful as we try to discern how we in our Christian community can practice anew the love of God expressed as love of our neighbour and our selves.

This is what Lent means to me, to try to live a simpler, more contemplative life. It means trying hard to be less stressed, in order to be more in tune with the needs of others. So together, let us strive to spend a little more time in fellowship with God and His Word, and together ponder the Love so great, that it will never let us go.

With much love from

Caroline