Friday 7 March 2014

Lent Thoughts

I suspect many enjoyed the fun of making and tossing pancakes on Tuesday.  Shrove Tuesday is of course followed by Ash Wednesday and entry into the period we call Lent.  It's a time when many people forego some pleasure or treat for Lent - and one comes across people who don't even go to church 'giving up things for Lent' which seems a bit of a strange thing to do really!

I have grown up without the tradition of 'giving up things for Lent', but the comings weeks are still a time of careful reflection and devotion as we lead up to the celebration of Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter itself.  It is right that we don't rush into the celebration of Easter without fully engaging with the events that led up to it.  Our church calendar makes it very easy for people to jump straight from Palm Sunday to Easter without engaging in the difficult days that lie between them.

During Lent, we are remembering the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted.  A time when his humanity was put to the test - when Satan tried to tempt Jesus to use his special powers to rescue him from the limitations of being human - turning stone to bread to ease his hunger, jumping from a high place and expecting the angels to come to his aid, and then there was the temptation of kingship.  Kingship without enduring the pain and suffering of the cross that was to follow.

We cannot take shortcuts in our Christian life.  We can't claim the forgiveness of God and go on behaving as we did before we declared Christ as our Saviour.  Paul in his letter to the church at Rome implores us to live 'according to the Spirit' and not 'according to the flesh'.  The trials and temptations that we endure as part of that journey define us, they test us and make us stronger.  Let us face those trials and temptations as Jesus did - by referring to words of Scripture and remaining steadfast in our attempt to live 'according to the Spirit', true to our status as one of God's children.