As I write this, it is Shrove Tuesday, and I am looking forward to justifiably having some pancakes for my supper! That means that tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, is the start of the season of Lent: the period in the Church calendar which leads us towards Easter.<\/p>\n
I wonder if you\u2019ve decided to give something up for Lent? Because that\u2019s what we do for Lent, isn\u2019t it? Give up smoking, or coffee, or chocolate?<\/p>\n
Certainly, the perception of our culture is that this is what Lent is about: giving up \u201csomething bad for us\u201d. And don\u2019t get me wrong: there is no harm in self-discipline or taking less of something we know isn\u2019t good for us (I include myself in this \u2013 I could certainly do with eating more healthily!). But, if we think this is all that Lent is about, I am afraid we\u2019ve missed the point.<\/p>\n
The 40 days of Lent are meant to reflect the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness, fasting (which is why we sometimes \u201cgive something up\u201d for Lent) and being tempted by the devil. This was a time of, among other things, spiritual testing for Jesus, and He came out of it in the best way: He showed His complete devotion to God\u2019s plan and purpose.<\/p>\n
If Jesus experienced spiritual testing during this time, then perhaps it would be better for us to spend this time focusing on our faith, rather than \u201cgiving something up\u201d? It doesn\u2019t need to be anything too difficult either! What if you committed to reading a chapter of the Bible each of the next 40 days? (You could read all the Gospel of Mark and Luke if you try that!) Or, if you don\u2019t already, could you make sure to spend time in prayer each morning and night? I am certain that giving your faith this kind of attention will have a positive impact on your relationship with God.<\/p>\n
Others may wish to do something more adventurous. There are various ways you can \u201ctake something up\u201d instead of \u201cgiving something up\u201d this Lent.\u00a0 Groups like 40 Acts and Christian Aid encourage us to do something to support and benefit others, rather than just focussing on ourselves. You can find these, and many other resources online (or if you prefer you can speak to me, and I can tell you more).<\/p>\n
Whatever you do over the coming weeks of Lent, it is my sincere hope and prayer that God blesses you, as you focus your time and energies on your relationship with Him.<\/p>\n
God bless,<\/p>\n
Stuart<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As I write this, it is Shrove Tuesday, and I am looking forward to justifiably having some pancakes for my supper! That means that tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, is the start…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8z2vw-fV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1678,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/lent-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":987,"position":0},"title":"Lent 2017","author":"Stuart Love","date":"5 March 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Sermons"","block_context":{"text":"Sermons","link":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/sermons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Wilderness-Series.jpg?fit=525%2C524&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Wilderness-Series.jpg?fit=525%2C524&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Wilderness-Series.jpg?fit=525%2C524&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":260,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/clincarthill-lent-study\/","url_meta":{"origin":987,"position":1},"title":"Clincarthill Lent Study","author":"admin","date":"7 January 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Evening Lent Study - 9th March to 6th April We\u00a0 have planned to have an Lent Study at 7pm on Sunday evenings starting on the 9th of March and running for five weeks until the 6th April. So often we think of Lent, which is a time of preparation for\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3826,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/reflections-for-lent\/","url_meta":{"origin":987,"position":2},"title":"Reflections for Lent","author":"admin","date":"26 February 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2018Lent\u2019 is the six week period leading up to Easter (similar to \u2018advent\u2019 being the build up to Christmas). While advent is a celebration and a time of great anticipation, Lent is more often seen as a time of serious preparation for the celebration of the death and resurrection of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Lenten-Reflections-graphic-1.jpg?fit=783%2C783&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Lenten-Reflections-graphic-1.jpg?fit=783%2C783&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Lenten-Reflections-graphic-1.jpg?fit=783%2C783&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Lenten-Reflections-graphic-1.jpg?fit=783%2C783&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1627,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/lent-2018-online-retreat\/","url_meta":{"origin":987,"position":3},"title":"Lent 2018 Online Retreat","author":"admin","date":"2 February 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Lent-retreat-2018.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":773,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/lent-bible-study-the-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":987,"position":4},"title":"Lent Bible Study – The Way","author":"admin","date":"11 February 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Our 6 week Lent Bible Study begins on Sunday 14th February at 6.30pm, this week only, to view the film 'The Way'. 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Running each Sunday evening from 15th February to 22nd March at 7pm in the sanctuary. We will be studying Words from Calvary six fascinating study sessions, where we will look in detail at the last 12 hours of Jesus' life and the seven\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Words from Calvary2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Words-from-Calvary2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":988,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987\/revisions\/988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}