After New Year’s resolutions, ‘giving something up for Lent’ has become a fashionable way of disciplining our appetites. What we give up is often connected with food (chocolate and alcohol are perhaps the two things most frequently renounced over Lent), and certainly, there can be real benefits from looking at what we eat and drink and curbing our appetites. Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins we rarely talk about, though it is quite possibly one of the most prevalent in Western churches. Certainly it is a sin I struggle with. I’m known in my family as a ‘feeder’, someone who finds comfort, worth, reassurance and value in food. I used to work with someone who would frequently forget to eat because he was so busy, something I cannot even imagine doing, no matter how busy I am!

Molière, a 17^th century French playwright, once wrote ‘il faut manger pour vivre et pas vivre pour manger’ (‘you should eat to live, not live to eat.’) There are many health benefits to giving up certain foods (especially sugars) over a period of time, but the primary purpose of renouncing things over the Lenten period is not as a way of dieting or benefitting physical health, though these may well be useful things to do. We give things up for spiritual reasons: to focus our minds and hearts on God, to have more time for prayer (preparing, consuming and cleaning up after eating take a lot of time in an ordinary day!) and to enable us to become more spiritually attuned and alert to God. (Luke 2:37, Luke 5:33, Matt 6:6-16)

Fasting is an important spiritual discipline, training our bodies that physical appetites should not have the last word. When we first give up some food or drink, it seems that’s all we can think about! Our bodies crave the substance we have renounced; our minds perhaps do so even more! But as we deny ourselves, we enter into the spiritual principle that the way to life and freedom is through renunciation. (Mark 8:34) We can never under-estimate the importance of bringing our appetites and earthly desires under God’s control, of establishing His rule and reign in every area of our lives.

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the period of 40 days which leads up to Easter. 40 is a significant number in the Bible, with the Israelites spending 40 years in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land, and the 40 days of Lent reflects the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert before the start of His public ministry. This year, Lent starts on 1^st March and ends on Maundy Thursday, 13^th April (Sundays are excluded from the period of Lent.) In many churches, a service is held on Ash Wednesday, when the mark of the cross is put on every believer in ashes, to symbolise repentance from sin and to remind us of our human mortality, encouraging us to focus on spiritual matters connected with eternity.

The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer through prayer, doing penance, repentance, almsgiving, and self-denial.  As such, it’s a human way of focussing our attention on doing away with sin (the ‘putting to death the earthly nature’ discussed yesterday.) There is nothing particularly ‘special’ about the period itself, but as fallible people prone to forget, it is often helpful to have something external which reminds us of eternal values.

Over this period, we will be looking at the things we need to leave behind and the life of Christ we need to embrace. Michael Card reminds us,

“When we say ‘no’ to the things of the world
We open our hearts to the love of the Lord and
It’s hard to imagine the freedom we find from the things we leave behind.’ (‘Things We Leave Behind,’ Michael Card)

I’m no great fan of New Year’s resolutions or even ‘giving up things for Lent’, largely because I know how easy it is for me to fall into legalistic traps that either make me feel smug and self-righteous when I’m successful or (more frequently!) despondent and despairing when I fail. However, self-examination is important in spiritual growth (see Ps 139:23-24, 2 Cor 13:5), so our Lenten studies are designed to focus our attention on both repentance and spiritual growth.

Today, S & G Electrical finished the installation of the fire alarm. First of all, they had to fit a dialler (so that if the alarm goes off, we are contacted…) Here is Dave fathoming the instructions:

Then he had to drill to connect cable to the landline:

Fitting the dialler fixtures to the wall:

All the fixtures now fitted:

Tidying up everywhere:

Outside emergency lighting fitted:

Now we have the job of explaining to everyone how it works!

When I learn German, I enjoyed finding patterns in irregular verbs and had to learn from a table listing all the different tenses for these. Beginning with the infinitive, I would learn the different forms for that verb, listing the 3rd person singular in the present tense, imperfect tense and then the past participle (beginnen – beginnt- begann- begonnen, for example.)

There are, of course, plenty of irregular verbs in English which don’t follow regular patterns (especially in the past tense, which usually ends in -ed.) Shrove Tuesday reflects one of those verbs, with ‘shrove’ the past tense of ‘to shrive’, a verb meaning to hear the confession of someone, to assign penance to and absolve them. Shrove Tuesday, the last day before Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter), is also known as ‘Pancake Day’, from a tradition where all the fat was used up to make pancakes before a period of fasting in preparation for considering what it cost Christ to die for our sins. Shrove Tuesday is associated with self-examination, considering what wrongs we need to repent and what changes we can bring to our lives to develop spiritual growth.

In many countries, Shrove Tuesday is associated with carnivals. Whilst we think of these things as occasions for celebration with elaborate costumes and music, the root of that word is ‘carne’, meaning meat or flesh. A carnival literally is a ‘putting away of flesh.’

Paul urges us to ‘put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature’ (Col 3:5) and to ‘count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.’ (Rom 6:11)

I find we are not as comfortable with talk sin and mortification (the technical word for putting to death our earthly nature) as Christians in the past. We somehow feel it is demeaning to admit to sin and to seek to be ‘absolved’ of sin, believing only Christ can forgive us and there is no need to name sin before a priest. It is easier for us to keep thoughts of sin to the general without being specific, but then we do not know the joy of specific forgiveness. We like the festive aspects of carnival far more than the putting to death aspects.

James says, ‘Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.’ (Js 4:8-10)

As we perhaps eat pancakes today, it’s good to ponder the religious significance of the occasion and ask for God’s help in putting to death the earthly nature, asking for the fruit of the Spirit to grow in our lives, for ‘those who belong in Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.’ (Gal 5:24)

S & G Electrical returned to continue work on the fire alarm today, working in the children’s room:

… and on the stage:

Tidying, touching up and putting fronts on the conduit also took up time:

We also got the clock back!

Guest speaker Yan Hadley spoke tonight on the voice of the Lord, taking a reading from Ps 29:3-9. God’s voice is a dynamic power which has been heard by His people throughout history: from Adam and Noah through to the book of Revelation, God has been speaking to people. This is not just reserved for ‘special people’, but all can hear His voice (see Jn 8:47, also Jn 10:27). Just as analogue radio stations had to be ‘tuned in’ to correctly hear what was being broadcast,however, we need to spend time with God to hear Him and must respond to His voice.

There are many ways in which God speaks to us, including:

1. through our conscience, which convicts us of sin and speaks to us of eternal matters (see Jn 16:13, Eccl 3:11). We are urged not to harden our hearts when we hear God’s voice (Heb 3:15,18), but need to deveop a tender, sensitive and responsive conscience, shaped by God’s word.
2. through creation, which speaks of God’s glory and magnificence (see Ps 19:1-2, Rom 1:19-20).
3. through Scripture, which is a living word that can come alive to us through the revelation of God’s Holy Spirit.
4. through other people, who can speak God’s word into our lives (through preaching, the gifts of the Spirit or even through ordinary conversations.)
5. through a variety of circumstances, with God being able to bring good from even uncomfortable, unusual and dangerous circumstances (see Rom 8:28).
6. through sovereign power, reminding us that what God opens or closes cannot be closed or shut by anyone else! (Rev 3:7) Jonah is an example of how God’s sovereign power can turn rebellion into repentance, using the most unlikely circumstances of a storm, a great fish and a minute worm! Saul of Tarsus is also a powerful reminder to us that no one is beyond God’s grace, for this hardened, hostile man who persecuted Christians was won to God by His sovereign power.
7. through prayer (see Jer 33:3, where God urges us to call to Him in the security that He will answer.)

We must, of course, use caution and wisdom when discerning the voice of the Lord, for the enemy can deceive us (see 1 Jn 4:1). We have to match what we believe we are hearing from God with His Word (Ps 119:105 reminds us that His word will light our paths and any ‘voice’ from God must not contradict Scripture) , with the witness of His Holy Spirit (Col 3:15) and with counsel from spiritual, wise and trusted friends. (Prov 11:14) We must also eagerly desire to hear God’s voice, asking Him to unblock our ears and help us to hear that still, small voice which speaks hope and peace to all.