Berinsfield Vicarage

February 2008

Dear Friends,

Gosh, hasn't Lent come round quickly this year! We begin our observance with services at Berinsfield at 9.30am and Long Wittenham at 8pm. For many years Lent has been a season I have held lightly to preferring to concentrate on the joy of Easter. Increasingly I have begun to realize the value of Lent in understanding what Easter is all about.

As we travel through Lent towards Easter we travel through an amazing range of human emotions and experiences. We begin as Jesus goes out into the desert after his baptism. He chooses to be alone and to strip himself of human companionship and the basic physical need of food and comfort as he seeks to discover his Father's will. Later in Holy Week he will again be stripped of these basic human rights but then it will be imposed upon him.

Whilst Jesus is in the desert he is tempted and has to analyse his own motives and ambitions before he sets out on his ministry task. How much is he motivated by the desire for fame and power? How important to him is the approval of his friends and neighbours? To what extent does he expect God to save him from trouble? How far is he willing to experience pain and adversity in order to live a life dedicated to loving and empowering others? As we think over these questions for ourselves during Lent we are challenged by Jesus. He so completely committed himself to living a life motivated by love of God and love of neighbour, that the challenge this presented to the prevailing culture was immense. Many of the community could not tolerate him in their midst and his neighbours were to plot and succeed in having him killed. We know the end of the story that on Easter day good will overcome evil, but it is sometimes harder to be convinced of that in our own lives, especially when things get tough.

Lent is a good time to stop and consider which are the values we are prepared to live by and how much we are prepared for this to cost us. Just how much are we prepared to risk in bringing in God's kingdom.  This includes so many things we regard as our basic human rights. Our right to have a better lifestyle, our right to the support and friendship of friends and family, our right to expect God to get us out of tight spots - just how much sacrifice are we prepared to experience in living out our faith? How much adversity are we prepared to bear before we give up on God? How long are we prepared to wait to see good overcome evil?

Wishing you a thoughtful and fruitful Lent,

Best wishes,

Ros