Lent…Starts this coming Wednesday…Are you looking forward to it? Of course you are - bring it on Lord. Fasting and prayer, no chocolate, no wine, feeling miserable the whole time, berating my many sins, beating myself with whips - just what I want to do every year. …Is that your image of Lent?
Every year I think, right, I must engage with Jesus more deeply in prayer, must spend more time with him, especially in silence. And every year there are huge pressures from elsewhere that interrupt or cut across my intentions. Maybe this year will be different! I hope it will and to help us in this journey, we will be basing our sermons on resources provided by Lectio 365, an international organisation set up by Pete Grieg to encourage prayer. Alongside the sermons we will be running a Lent group - both on line and in person in the rectory and details are on the notice sheet . Also each of us can do a meditation every day using the Lectio 365 app - it takes about 10 minutes, so not long and yet is a wonderful way of connecting deeper with Jesus.
So here are with an introductory sermon preparing us for Lent, and the example of Jesus is a great place to start. The bible tells us that immediately after his baptism, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. Note that it is under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Mark uses a stronger Greek word which is often translated as driven or cast out, indicating the force behind the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is imperative that Jesus goes through with this time of trial. All security and all comforts and distractions are stripped away. He is separated from the rest of the world to fast and pray and engage with spiritual warfare. It was a necessary preparation for the start of his ministry. Steeled by his rejection of all that Satan offered him when under duress and in need, he learnt to rely on God the Father and the Holy Spirit and time and again in his three years of ministry he again sought out the Father in the solitude and silence that he learnt in the wilderness. Likewise with us, once we have learnt the benefits of intentionally seeking God in solitude then it becomes a lifeline we go back to, especially in times of need.
In the third century men and women, began leaving their sophisticated metropolitan cities of Cairo and Alexandria to follow Jesus’ example, and pursue lives of prayer and deep holiness in the wilderness. These remarkable men and women of faith, were perhaps some of the most radical prayer warriors of all time. And surprisingly, having left the world behind them, they began to change it.
Hundreds of thousands of people began trekking out into the wilds of Egypt, Syria and Arabia, seeking counsel and prayer from these holy men and women. Known as The Desert Fathers and Mothers, their lives became a potent, prophetic challenge to the depravity of contemporary society and the compromises of the Church. Communities grew up around these prayer warriors, laying the foundations for Christian monasticism to come. During this sermon series we will be reflecting upon their desert experiences and see what lessons we can learn from them.
Anthony was one of these Desert Fathers. He sold up the large estate his parents had left him, gave the money away and went out into the desert and for 20 years hardly spoke to anyone. 20 years. Sound appealing to you? This separation? This isolation? Some of us will find this easier than others. I am an introvert so I am happy with my own company, and do not feel the need to always be with others to be engaged in continual conversation. I am happy with Silence. However I am not sure i could do it for 20 years. Others are not happy with solitude and silence. And some, particularly those living alone or with a spouse who is unwell, may already have long periods of silence or loneliness.
Yet the psalmist wrote
“Be still, and know that I am God; “ (ps 46.10)
It is stillness and quiet that we truly find God. I encourage you, whatever our home situation, whatever our personality we can still set up periods in each day when we intentionally seek God, be still with Him, acknowledging his presence with us. Jesus’s advice on prayer in Matthew 6 is to “go into your room and close the door.” The Desert Fathers and Mothers recognised the value of this. I have written previously in the magazine on this, about the value of turning off all distractions - mobile phones etc - setting a time and space - same chair, same candle, same pattern each day - in which we intentionally seek to listen to God. Try this out, engage with it, each day.
The one line we had from the letter to the church in Colosse, starts with the verb “Devote”. The Greek word that Paul uses for this is proskartereo and it means : to be earnest towards, to persevere, to be constantly diligent, to continue with. This word is used ten times in Greek in the New Testament and eight of those ten are referring to prayer. Do you get the message? Devote yourselves to prayer, be earnest towards prayer, persevere in prayer, be constantly diligent in prayer, continue with prayer. It is a single minded, diligent, careful perseverance. A steely determination. A good marker on how well we do in this is if we look back over the last week - what do we always fit in, regardless of circumstances? Is prayer one of those things? It should be.
To help us in this quest for deeper connection with God it is helpful to remind ourselves that the context in which Jesus was sent into the wilderness was the huge affirmation of love and identity from God the Father and an infilling of the Holy Spirit. “This is my Son, My Beloved, in Whom I delight!” Those words would have been ringing in his ears, resonating in his soul. God says the same words to each of us - you are my beloved, my precious child….We go into the wilderness, not to become loved, but because we are already loved. Deeply loved. The wilderness, those times of quiet and solitude are not places to be afraid of, but places where we can let go of the demands and worries of this world, and allow our fractured souls to be repaired and remade by God. Where we can know his comforting arms around us, his words of affirmation, delight and presence in each one of us.
So I encourage you this Lent, go deeper with God, engage with the daily readings from Lectio 365, they will link in with our sermons and the Lent course - join one of these courses. And set aside time each day to step away from your daily routine and to intentionally seek the Father. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you deeper into the mystery of God and the wonders he wishes to share with us.
Amen
For details of our Lent Courses click here Download the Lectio 365 app