Articles - From the Curate

Journey into Lent

As we journey on through this year into March, we start to see signs of a changing season. Spring is hopefully around the corner and our landscape begins to show its slow change into greenery and new life. We are journeying slowly from the wilderness of winter, onwards into the new hope that spring brings.

And so it is for the journey we take in our Christian life … we move from the previous season of Epiphany tide (and a brief interval of Ordinary Time) into the season of Lent, preparing us for the eventual journey to the new life at Easter. Lent's 40 days (which exclude Sundays) begin on Ash Wednesday (9th March) where we have opportunity to have our forehead marked with a cross of ash, reminding us of our mortality and as a sign of repentance, following the biblical tradition of ashes covering the head in mourning.

Lent marks the start of a journey on the road of relationship … with God and can be a time when we look at that relationship anew …. where is it going? Is it going anywhere? Is it important to us? How often do we do anything to maintain it? How often do we talk/communicate with God? Do we need to start again with God?

Lent can be used as a time when we seriously look at all of these questions and try to do something about our relationship with God. Whatever our relationship with God is like …. God is always there, waiting for us, whether we acknowledge Him or not, He waits for us to start talking to him and turning to him. His unconditional love for us never ever ends.

Jesus tells the story of the Prodigal (Lost) Son, who took his inheritance from his father and left home. After spending everything and making a mess of his life, he gets to the lowest of points. He remembers his father and wonders, if he goes back home, if his father will welcome him. This excerpt from the story in Luke's Gospel (Luke 15:11-32) describes this home coming, when he does decide to come back to his father…'But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.'

The father in the story represents God and the Son represents those who turn back to God. The homecoming describes what it will be like for us, when we look at our relationship with God, our Father, anew. If we decide to respond and turn back to God, we can be assured, like the father in the story, that He will never have stopped looking out for us, and that He will run to meet us, throw His arms around us and kiss us … in other words, He will show us His unconditional love for us, no matter what has gone before!

Let's use this journey into Lent as a time to re-look at our relationship with God, to try to respond to Him and then come to know His great great love for us.

Diane

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay - Charity Number 1131904