Howard Writes
"The Season of Lent"
By the time this letter is published, Lent will have started. It began when we met on Ash Wednesday 22nd February at the Mission Community Eucharist, where we received the sign of the cross in ash on our foreheads. Of course outward signs and partaking in the Liturgy are empty actions unless they bring with them a change of heart. Lent is about having that change of heart, where we take action to pray more, to fast and to do acts of service. Doing good things can be catching. To illustrate this point, we need only to think of the situation when another driver lets us out into traffic. A few moments later, when we next have the opportunity to do the same for someone else, we feel almost compelled to act graciously, especially if the person who gave way to us is travelling behind! The world can be made into a better place if we act in a concerted way and create good habits.
Whilst we can do much by cultivating good habits however, we must not make the mistake in thinking that we can make the world whole again by human efforts alone. Immanuel Kant, he great German philosopher, saw the truth of this in his famous quotation,”Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.” We delude ourselves if we believe that politics, sociology and economics can provide permanent solutions to the world’s problems, when the real problem lies within people’s hearts. However, that is not to say that we do not have the capacity to do good as well as evil.
As we approach Holy Week and Easter, we are reminded again both that we live in a fallen world and of what it cost God to redeem humanity. As Christians, we believe that only God has the power to save the world from sin and death. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16) This great love, which is beyond our human understanding, is a love which gives rather than takes. It is also a love which is unconditional. God does not say to us, “I’ll love you if you change your ways,” or “I’ll give my Son to die if you promise to love me.” The apostle Paul makes this important point in his letter to the Romans, “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) He loved us when we were unlovable.
Christianity is a religion which encourages us to make a response to the love of God. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19), and we can only show our love for God, by loving our neighbours as ourselves. We don’t show it by joining worship every Sunday and spending long hours in private prayer, but then doing nothing about the needs of our community and the world in which we live. Faith without works is dead (James 2:26b) and that is why it is so important to take positive steps to grow in Christian service. Prayer and worship are of course really important and will strengthen us for the journey, but they are not ends in themselves. One hymn that we shall sing at Easter is “Now is eternal life.” God wants us to be fellow workers with him in building the new kingdom and he calls each of us to begin that work now.
May we receive the love of God in our hearts and respond in Christian service.
Howard.