Thought for the week by Stuart Muir
I would think that many have given something up for Lent.
Every year I have the same conversations with people about what they are giving up; chocolate, alcohol, tobacco, and so on.
These are generally good things to give up. They not only help our health they help our pockets as well.
Very rarely though do I have conversations as to why we give things up for Lent.
For Christians Lent is a time of preparation before Easter. It is a time of self-denial, fasting and prayer that in turn helps to focus minds on the events of Easter.
In many churches crosses, candles and ornaments are removed or covered up to help maintain a more prayerful focus during Lent.
It finds its origins at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry and is based on the time that Jesus spent in the desert preparing himself for his mission.
Although the celebration of Lent is not found in the pages of the New Testament it provides a reminder that Jesus had a period of fasting and praying before starting his work and it works in a similar way for us today.
Committing ourselves and the things we do to God is part and parcel of the life that Christians have chosen. And the strange thing is, the more we pray the more things seem to happen.
A former Archbishop once said that when he stopped praying, coincidences stopped happening.
More often though, everyday life takes over and we do not quite get round to it and so we find ourselves in a downward spiral and somehow over time we realise that we have stopped praying altogether.
It is no wonder that the world seems in a mess, when actually a lot of us are in a mess ourselves. As the saying goes, “fail to prepare, prepare to fail”.
If Christians do not pray for themselves, for others and for the wider community then we should not expect good and great things to happen.
Jesus is the example; pray in preparation for everyday life, and if you do not know what to pray for, pray for the ordinary not just the spectacular and you will find that the spectacular happens anyway.
So this Lent, do not just think about what to give up, think about what you might take up, that thing which may be life changing not just for you but for others as well.
All good wishes for Lent and Easter
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Monday 20 May 2013
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