A Few thoughts on Lent

Lent is with us again, and it offers to us the gift of the wilderness. The Bible points to the wilderness - the desert place - as a place of exploration and spiritual growth. The wilderness allows those who enter it to see themselves as they really are.

There are no hiding places, nothing that can be used to conceal. Whilst this can be a frightening concept, it is also powerfully liberating. For the wilderness is also a hopeful place, allowing us to let go of the past and to make a fresh start.

So as Christians, we begin our Lenten journey into the wilderness - a period of self-examination and reflection on what it means to be human: how it is that I am me.

One of the more painful realisations in any journey of selfdiscovery is that that we don't always get it right, have the proper motives, act with justice or love. We sin, to put it in Christian language.

This is what the prophet, Micah, from the Old Testament Scriptures, asked of the people:
"You know what the Lord requires of you: to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God". Micah 6:8

And remember, throughout this Lenten journey, whatever you've done, wherever you are, however you feel, the truth remains: you are the beloved child of God.

This Article was first published in the Spring 2006 edition of Ramsden Bellhouse Baptist Church Review