Lent. It’s about making space. Making room.
Having less in our lives allows more of God.
In the space, in the quiet, it’s easier to hear the whispers of God to our souls. As we reduce the clamouring and noise around us we are more aware of the gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit. Pausing to give thanks for what we have instead of rushing to attain more. Pausing to listen, not to speak or to add.
What kind of King indeed?
What kind of King would allow Himself to be mocked and scourged?
What kind of King would be crucified?
What kind of King would see victory in death?
What kind of King would shed His blood for me, for you?
So many of our days are “ordinary”, insignificant for lack of notable achievements or milestones. In fact for many of us we often spend days caught between the promise and fulfilment. We are in the hallway. And well it feels at best uneventful. It’s not exhilarating. But it is in these times that our attitude, our character and our integrity are tested much. It’s when we keep on keeping on.
It’s the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The day with no special name. Good Friday and Easter Sunday are perhaps the most significant days on the entire church calendar. We learn across these two days that when God seems most absent He may be closest to all; when He looks most powerless He may be more powerful. The sacrifice and the victory seen on these two Holy Days. Powerful and significant days, but I would suggest to you that in a real sense we live our lives for the most part on the Saturday, the day in between. That time between the promise and fulfilment.
Between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is Saturday. Just Saturday. Not worthy enough for a public holiday. Just an ordinary day. A day that is like so many other days. It’s the day after the doctor’s report, the bank statement arrival, the day after the relationship breaks down. It can be a dreary and wearying day. Weary from grieving. Wearying from fighting to keep hope in the promise still to come.
We may be in a Saturday season but we can live it with the power and revelation of Resurrection Sunday! The resurrection of Jesus gives birth to a hope that says you may be in the middle of circumstances that deny a reason to have hope but you can still hope. Hope reinterprets circumstances. God’s resurrection power turns death into life, despair into hope, weakness into strength. It may seem like nothing is happening, nothing is changing, but God is always working behind the scenes for us!
It may be a Saturday but let’s live in the light and life of Resurrection Sunday!
It would have been easy to join in, to get excited at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Everyone would have been participating, shouting out accolades, receiving Jesus as King. What a parade, what joy. Yet within the week we know that it all changed. The crowd worked up again into a frenzy this time though to cry crucify him and not hosannas. Friends, followers turning against Him and fleeing themselves. Hope dissipated, reality seemingly too much to refute.
It’s easy to cast aspersions on that crowd. How fickle, short-sighted of them and how very ignorant and weak. To go from rejoicing and praising Jesus to calling for His crucifixion. How could they turn on Him?
But there lies in this Holy Week a challenge for us, a question. It’s so easy on bright sunny days to rejoice in God, to praise Him, to worship. But what about those dark days? Those dark days when faith wavers when confronted by your reality. Your Saviour is dead on a tree, buried in a tomb. Hope gone. Dreams dead in the tomb with Him. Resurrection seems impossible, a wishful thought. In these times though, we can still worship. We can still proclaim Hosanna in the Highest!
And we can move through the shadows of the week, the darkness of Good Friday to the light and hope of Resurrection Sunday! In those hard days while tears may fall, we will find strength through our Lord to let our song, our praise rise to Jesus, King of Kings.
The calendar decrees 1 March is the first day of Autumn. It’s a definitive, set time. The appearance of Autumn however has been much more gradual and subtle signs evident before the official start of Autumn.. Leaves on trees slowly starting to change colour and fall. Acorns falling from the tree and losing their lush vibrant green colour. Temperatures cooling.
An increase in age is officially celebrated on the date of birth but the signs of aging much more gradual and discreet. When did my 4 year old start looking like a school boy and lose the preschool chubbiness? And those grey hairs on me just keep on sneaking in!
Our faith too can have milestones – definitive days of celebration – day of baptism, confirmation or other notable occasions – the day healing received perhaps. But most of the time our faith is marked in the daily, less momentous exchanges of our spirit with God. Prayers, time spent in the Bible, times in worship. The key question is are we growing in faith, in intimacy with God? Is there evidence of a strengthening in our faith, a growth in our knowledge and relationship with God?
May this time of Lent be used to journey forward, to journey deeper with God.
During the season of Lent, it’s tradition to “give up” something. To fast from a particular food or activity. Coffee perhaps (eek!)? Maybe a favourite television programme or hobby. It’s about making space, making more room for God in our sometimes cluttered lives. The focus isn’t on what we’re giving up but what we’re making room for. As we stop ourselves from ordering the coffee or sitting down to watch that programme, we not meant to mourn what we’re missing out on but to take the time – even those few precious moments to think on Jesus.
Giving up something creates more room for more of God in our lives.
As we journey towards Easter it’s about making room, recalibrating our hearts towards Jesus and the revelation of what He did for us.