Reorientation

And now for 40 days of setting yourself impossible goals and beating yourself up (I’m going to read the Bible in it’s entirety before breakfast each day and spend most of my waking hours on Weston-Super-Mare beach, just as Christ was in the desert.) Or, and now for setting yourself ridiculously easy goals and not really engaging with Lent (I’m going to give up asparagus and Christmas pudding, Lent’s a bit of medieval hokum anyway and it seems to last longer than 40 days.) Or maybe, there is a window for spiritual reflection, a holy audit , which might actually be a pretty helpful to yourself, and those around you.

Lent is of the Holy Spirit, or it’s of no particular value, and potentially a bit of distracting religious weirdness. In Luke 4:1 it records that Jesus was ‘full of the Holy Spirit’ and ‘led by the Spirit’ as he began the 40 days in the desert we are identifying with. In Luke 4:14, 40 days later, Jesus returned from the desert ‘in the power of the Spirit’. So we build our desert with God, not with guilt. Jesus’ life was revealed in Luke 4 to be a life totally orientated to God; our 40 days will normally reveal the need for reorientation, realignment. We will see ourselves better, and God better. Some possibilities to consider from this Wednesday, or not:

Feast. Read John in Lent. You’ll find the readings set out on the back of the Morning Prayer leaflet handed out today. Use the liturgy as well if you wish, or join us each day in St Aldhelm's chapel at 9am (or maybe one day a week to help keep you focused.)

Fast. How would your life look if you consumed differently for 40 days, fasting from a food, facebook, TV show e.g.

Live. Like a North Korean. Use the Open Doors material, available today, to pray for the church in North Korea and to allow the life of a North Korean Christian to comment on your own.

Practice Intentional Solitude & Community. Don’t let church and prayer happen in the cracks of a busy life. For 40 days see how it feels to allow Christian community and personal stillness before God to shape everything else.

That other thing. As the 40 days progress allow the Spirit to lead you to put something down or pick something up. Allow ‘your will be done’ to feel a fresh and exciting sentence to begin the day.

Services at 10.30am and 7pm on Ash Wednesday kick off our 40 days together, our reorientation to God. Our Easter Day worship ends it as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ together.