Jesus was baptised to mark the beginning of his ministry on earth, under the encouragement of his and our Father ‘This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased’. We are told that immediately after this he is led by the Spirit into the wilderness alone for forty days and forty nights. We know he ate nothing for that period and was tempted by the Devil but we don’t know what he did there or what he thought about but we do know he was led there by the Spirit so it must have been important to God that Jesus went there for this period of time and at this point in time. Imagine his life up to this point spent around people, family, friends, neighbours customers and now spending all this time bereft of any human contact. The wilderness was a complete change from what he had been used to and the first challenge to his purpose.
At our joint service on Ash Wednesday 2nd March at 7pm at Bilton we will mark together the start of Lent. We are encouraged that Lent is a time for reflection for us as individuals but also together as church. It’s a period to appraise with Jesus the relationship we share in him which means it’s a time to stop and especially focus on talking to him and listening to him. The danger is we treat Lent as just another day or even just another Lent, and it goes by without any real thought or difference to our relationship with the Divine. Surely Lent is such an important time for Christians as we journey together with Jesus towards the cross and then beyond to Easter that it is right that we all make this Lent a different period from the ‘norm’. So my question to you and me is how will you mark your journey with Jesus this year – give something up for Jesus, do something you don’t normally for Jesus, reassess your relationship with Jesus….?
As we start our Lent groups in both churches over the six weeks we are focussing together on Jesus as;
God with us
Friend of Sinners
Compassionate Physician
Great Teacher
Miracle Worker
Victorious Sacrifice
Let’s make Lent special and come together to talk and listen to God through each other in our reflecting together in all we do.
Your friend and servant
Alan