17th February 2021 - Introducing Lent

APC 17th February 2021               “Introducing Lent”
 
Welcome  and Introduction                
Good morning everyone and welcome to our Midweek worship.  Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.  So I want to begin a new series that will lead us through this wonderfully reflective Christian season.  But as always let’s begin by talking to God, let’s pray…
 
Opening Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
 
Living God, we thank you for this day You have given us, a day that reminds us of your mercy, your forgiveness, your offer of a new beginning for all who seek it. 
 
Search us O God, and lead us in the way of eternal life
 
We thank you for this time you have given us, this season of Lent which reminds us of the need for prayer and reflection, discipline and self-examination. 
 
Search us O God, and lead us in the way of eternal life
 
We thank you for all this season leads towards, the days of Holy Week and Easter which remind us of your great love shown in Christ, and your great victory won through Him. 
 
Search us O God, and lead us in the way of eternal life
 
Living God, help us to use this day wisely and this season fully, so that our faith may be deepened, our horizons stretched and our love for you increased. 
 
Search us O God, and lead us in the way of eternal life
 
Cleanse us of all that is wrong, put a new heart and a right spirit within us and so prepare us to rejoice again at the wonder of your love revealed in Christ crucified and risen. 
 
Search us O God, and lead us in the way of eternal life, for it’s in His name we pray.
 
Let us share together in the words of the Lord’s Prayer….
 
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name,
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us,
And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil,
For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
For ever and ever, AMEN.
 
Address    “Lessons to Learn from Lent”
 
I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy the different seasons and celebrations of the Christian Year like Harvest, Advent, Christmas, Easter and Pentecost.  It gives great variety to our services and helps us to focus on some of the most important aspects of our faith each year.  Today, Ash Wednesday, begins the season that we call ‘Lent’.
 
The English word ‘lent’ actually means spring.  However, it has nothing to do with celebrating a season of the year.  Traditionally, in the Early Church ‘Lent’ was a Pre-Easter period of spiritual discipline.  It was first undertaken by candidates who were to be baptised on Easter Day.  During a six-week period these people received detailed instruction on the Christian faith before they were initiated into the faith through baptism.  Today, however, Lent has become the time when Christians in general are invited to prepare themselves to celebrate the death and the resurrection of Christ during Easter. 
 
It encompasses the 40-day period beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Easter Saturday.  The timeframe, mirrors the reality that our Jesus spent 40 days in the desert, without eating any food.  During that time Jesus was able to listen to God and talk to Him about what He wanted him to teach people and what he wanted Him to do.  We’ll be reflecting on that passage in more detail on Sunday.
 
During the 40 days of Lent, Christians try to copy Jesus by setting aside more time to talk to God by praying and to listen to God by reading the bible.
 
Today, ‘Ash Wednesday’ marks the beginning of this period we call Lent.
 
I don’t know how much you know about Ash Wednesday.  I must confess that I knew virtually nothing about it until recent years.  It’s not a festival that we practice in the Presbyterian church.  But it is a practice that is very interesting and which we can learn many important lessons from.  So I thought I would share a little bit about what happens on Ash Wednesday and what lessons we too might be able to learn from it.
 
On Ash Wednesday in many Christian churches, the minister or Priest will dip their finger in some ashes that have been obtained from the burning of Palm branches from the previous Year’s Palm Sunday service. 
 
When the minister or priest has dipped their finger in the ashes, they will make the sign of the cross on the forehead of all the people in the church.
 
The people will not wash this ash off their skin.  They will just allow it to gradually disappear itself over a few days.
 
But why do some Christian people do this?  What spiritual benefit can it bring them?  Well to discover the answer we need to turn to the bible.  Let’s read from Jonah 3 v 1-10.
 
Reading    Jonah 3 v 1-10.
 
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:
“By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
Here in the book of Jonah we find that when the people of Ninevah realised that they were saying or doing things that were wrong and that they had made God angry, they dressed themselves in old clothes made out of a rough material called ‘sackcloth’.  They also covered themselves in dusty ashes and refrained from eating for a while.
 
This was their way of showing God they were really sorry for the wrong things that they were saying and doing.  It was their way of telling God that they wanted to ‘repent’.  That means they wanted to change and to start saying and doing the things that God would be pleased with.  Repent means to turn around.  It means to turn away from doing the things that God says are wrong.  It means to turn to God and do the things that He says are right.
 
Today, Christians in many churches put ash on their foreheads.  That way, every time they look in the mirror and see the ash cross, they will be reminded that Jesus died for their sins.  They will be reminded that to have their sins forgiven they need to repent.  They will remember that they need to be sorry for the wrong things they say and do and they need to be willing to change their behaviour and do what God says.
 
In many churches, including our own denomination we don’t put ash on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday.  But we do still believe that when we know that we have done something wrong that we need to repent.  1 John 1 v 8 and 9 puts it like this,
 
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
 
These verses remind us that even though God has accepted us in Christ, from time to time we all still say and think and do things that are wrong.  That means we need to say sorry to God.  But just saying sorry isn’t enough.  To repent means that we also need to do something.  We don’t necessarily need to put ash on our bodies.  But we do need to change our behaviour.  We might have to stop getting drunk.  We might have to apologise to our spouse or family member for something we have said or done.  We might have to be reconsider how generous we are being to God and to other people in the world who are in need.  We might need to stop gossiping about someone.  We might need to stop complaining about things.  We might need to start talking to God again and saying ‘thank you’ to Him because we have forgotten about Him.
 
Conclusion
 
I hope you will join me on our Lenten journey over the next number of Wednesday mornings.  Today, Ash Wednesday begins that journey. And even though we don’t practice it in our denomination, let us not be uninformed about the benefits of Christian Traditions like Ash Wednesday.  Let us remember the helpful lessons that Ash Wednesday reminds us of, not just during Lent, but every day of our lives- the lesson that we need to be willing to repent.  We need to say sorry to God when we know we have done something wrong.  We also to stop doing that wrong behaviour and ask God to help us do and say what is right.  That way we keep our communication lines with God open and allow His Spirit to change us from the inside out.  That way we will continue to reflect more of the likeness of Christ in our daily lives.
 
Let’s pray…
 
Prayer
 
Almighty, all-seeing God, we thank you for this season of Lent – a time to reflect upon our discipleship, to consider our calling, to test ourselves and see whether we are actually in the faith.
 
Almighty God, help us to be honest with ourselves, to see ourselves as we really are, with all our weaknesses, all our ugliness and sinfulness.
 
Help us to face all those things which we usually prefer to push aside – the unpleasant truths we sweep under the carpet, pretending they are not there.
 
All-seeing God, we can fool ourselves but we cannot fool you.  We can pretend all is well but cannot conceal our inner pain.  We can deny our need of you but cannot disguise our emptiness without you.  We can seek fulfilment in this world but will never find real peace outside your love.
 
Almighty and all-seeing God, we claim to be in the faith but sometimes that faith is skin deep.  We claim to love you but often that love is flawed.  We claim to serve you but all too frequently we serve self, first.  Search us, and help us to search ourselves, control us, and help us to control ourselves.  Give us grace to grow strong in faith and whole in Christ. 
 
Take a moment now to remember a few people or circumstances to pray for…
We offer all these prayers in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
 
Closing Words
It’s been a joy and privilege to share with you again today. Thanks again for logging on.  I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s reflection.  Please do spend some time in quiet over the next couple of days reflecting on changes that with God’s help we might need to make.  That’s one reason the season of lent can be so helpful.  I do hope you can join us again at the weekend as we think about our Lord’s own Lenten experience in the wilderness and lessons we can learn. 
 
To close, let me lead you in a Benediction after which I invite you as always, to say the grace together…
 
 
 
Benediction
May the God of Grace and Glory
go with you as you follow this Lenten path.
Wherever it takes you,
and to whomever it takes you,
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and for evermore, Amen.”