Dear friends,

We're now in the season of Lent, that period of time leading up to Easter, during which we're meant to spend more time than usual thinking about our need for God and his forgiveness. It's a so-called 'penitential' season. But I wonder how many of us actually are able to make it anything special? During the Communion service on Ash Wednesday I used an extended preface, part of which I think is worth quoting:

For in these forty days
you lead us into the desert of repentance
that through a pilgrimage of prayer and discipline
we may grow in grace
and learn to be your people once again.
Through fasting, prayer and acts of service
you bring us back to your generous heart.
Through study of your holy word
you open our eyes to your presence in the world
and free our hands to welcome others
into the radiant splendour of your love.

I found the words quite sobering as I spoke them out, mainly because they seem to go so against the way we usually do things in this world. Our world is so caught up in self-seeking, the quest for self-fulfilment and doing things because they make us feel better. I can't think that many people would even begin to relate to those words above, and I fear that even Christians might find them too austere-sounding, too strict and intense. Fasting? More prayer than usual? Acts of service? Study of the word of God? Now hold on a minute….

I must admit I've never been one for making much of giving something up for Lent. I do understand why people do so, of course. It's a kind of fasting, not necessarily going without food but denying oneself a certain luxury. I don't particularly want to hear from people what they've given up - Jesus talked about keeping your fasting habits between you and God. The whole point of fasting is not to prove anything to other people but to show God that you mean business with him, that your relationship with him is more important than anything, including those things you find especially nice!

Indeed, all the things mentioned in that preface are to do with our relationship with him. The Christian life is a journey, a pilgrimage; one of 'growing in grace', that is, discovering more and more how grateful we can be to him for his love and forgiveness. Turning your back on the world is not about giving up on the world - we're not all called to be monks and nuns – but it is about making a positive decision to say that world is not all there is. Indeed, the world only has meaning if we can see that it is created and sustained by the presence of God. We're led from a 'desert of repentance' into something wonderful when we begin to see things this way. We can relate better to other human beings, we can discover the 'generous heart' of God, and we can bask in 'the radiant splendour of his love'.

Those last phrases sound really good, don't they? If only we could turn those good things on like a tap. If only God were there ready to bless us at the push of a button. Of course, it's not like that. He chooses to ask us to seek him, to persevere on the faith journey until we receive more of his grace. Anyone will tell you, whether an athlete striving for a prize, a person on a long journey, or someone who has to wait for something, that what they have to go through somehow makes the reward seem greater. I think it's the same with him. Our faith journey is not an easy one. Sometimes there's pain, or disappointment, or things we don't understand. Sometimes we just have to keep going and God might seem a bit distant. But it's the keeping going that makes the reward of discovering his love seem greater.

The word 'discipline' is not a popular one these days. Many think it's to do with lack of enjoyment or punishment for misbehaviour. Actually it's much more positive than that. It has to do with learning and using tools for learning that may at times restrict us to a narrower path than we might otherwise choose. People following Jesus Christ are often called disciples, which literally means 'learners'. Disciples therefore need discipline; it's as simple as that. But true disciples know that discipline is for our own good and leads to real joy and enlightenment in the end.

Lent might be about discipline but in a positive way, leading us to know the Author of life better. The joy of resurrection that we celebrate at Easter then becomes an even greater joy. May you discover that joy through your own journey this Lent.

With best wishes,

Anthony.

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