Love

It would appear that the USA engages in unprecedented level of interference by a Western State in a neighbouring state.
People tell us that China surrounds Taiwan with military manoeuvres designed to create instability.
Pictures inform us that Russia continues to ignore calls to suspend their unjustified war on Ukraine.

Those recent developments sit very uncomfortably in a month which has Valentine’s Day at its centre. The world of media and commerce reach out to convince people that love between people is all that matters, while the households in the world are much more concerned about the impact of international conflict on their lives.

Is Love the solution?

Yes and No. Certainly it can warm some hearts to be reminded that they have someone who loves them above all others. But to focus on that sort of love alone leaves the less passionate acts of kindness of parents towards their children seem trivial.

Yes and No. The ability of nations to set aside their international grievances about past wrongs out of a love for people today, can undermine the sources of conflict. But to let a violent act of one nation on another to simply be ignored, and even rewarded, is to deny the justice that love demands.

Yes and No. Jesus showed love to a woman who was caught in adultery, the greatest special crime of his day, but also told her to leave her life of sin: forgiven, yes, but in love she had been told to forge a new life.

YES! As Lent arrives let us seek ways to display difficult love in our demanding communities, and to use as our example and our only strength the love of God in Jesus who gave himself up for us.

For God so loved the world….

As Lent draws near we notice . . .

• the chocolate adverts on TV will multiply to distract the small proportion of viewers from self-denial for a few weeks.
• the story of Jesus being tempted will be given yet another new slant from the pulpit
• the Mothering Sunday tradition of the 19th century church will join Christmas and Easter as an excuse for social excess rather than church observance
• the alert worshipper will hear the more restrained melodies and minor keys of tradition Lenten hymns
  . . . or maybe none of those things. For, for the most part, the world doesn’t notice.
  

How can you best take up a spiritual discipline for Lent? Ask yourself these questions:

1. Does a practice like, say, prayer, force me to slow down and spend some time thinking of God?
2. Does a practice like, say, restricting some foods, make me reflect on how ungrateful I have become for all the provisions I usually enjoy?
3. Will a habit, like giving away money, remind me of the source of all wealth and well-being, namely God?
4. Can I restrict my daily intake of media or entertainment so that i have more time to read my Bible?
5. Is there something I can do before regular attendance at church – e.g. intercessions – that would help the ministry team flourish?
6. Does my discipline come so easily that it isn’t really a discipline?
7. How can my example, quietly performed, inspire others around me to consider the possibility that God is truly real to me?

We hope you have a good Lent, however you choose to observe it. It starts on Ash Wednesday 18th February.