Valentines and Lent

Now and again Valentines Day falls on the Sunday before the start of Lent. This is one of those years and it got me thinking that, although at first glance the two may seem totally unrelated, actually Valentines Day can help us observe Lent in the right spirit.

Valentine's Day celebrates the love one person has for another and although this can range from a schoolboy crush to the mature love of a long married couple there is a common theme. The 'secret' identity of the giver of the Valentine Card not only adds an air of mystery and excitement, but it also, if properly observed, means that it is offered expecting nothing in return. At heart it is altruistic.

We usually approach Lent as a season when we give things up, a time of sacrifice and penance as we walk with Jesus on the road to Jerusalem and his death for us. It is in foregoing some of our normal habits and luxuries that we become more conscious of what he gave up for us and are reminded that being his disciple means taking up our own cross and following him. We also become more oriented towards the needs of others and the injustices in the world, following Jesus' example. This annual journey is an important time for us.

Speaking for myself though I know that I can become focused too much on what I am giving up and forget that Lent can be an expression of my love for Jesus and gratitude for what he has done for me. Lent can also be a heightened time of intimacy and closeness to Jesus as we set aside time (often our most precious commodity) to just be with him, allow space in our heads and hearts to hear his voice and to notice the small subtle ways he may be present in our lives and circumstances.

Lent is about paying attention to what matters most, cutting back on the things that distract and disperse our loves and passions so that we discover a new freedom of simplicity that helps us reorient our heart.

At the center of Psalm 51, often used in Lent are these words: Create in me a pure heart O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

This is about keeping our love for God fresh and real. The giving of an annual Valentines Card between a couple married for many years encourages us to find words that make explicit what is in the warp and woof of the day to day love we share. Lent likewise allows us to express our love for God in ways that only he knows. May this Lent be an intimate and tender opening of your heart to the One who loves you as you are but also loves you too much to leave you as you are. A world awaits.

Comments

Curiosity in Lent

Lent starts on Wednesday and I've decided this year to cultivate curiosity. I'm not sure where this will lead me but it came off the back of a school assembly I led yesterday for 200 17 year olds. I was referencing Jesus' famous saying ' you will know the truth and the truth will set you free'. ( John 8:32). Amidst all the revising for exams and the importance of learning facts and answers I was hoping to inspire them with the sense of wonder they had as children and the curiosity that led them to ask questions. Good questions sometimes are even more important than good answers. After a day today walking with Ina in the Trossachs and hanging out in our van afterwards reading and chatting and snoozing I felt the challenge of my own words the previous morning. Lent is so often seen as a period of contraction, a narrowing of appetites, restricting of habits, scrutiny of motivations etc. It is hard to get excited about Lent the w...

A deep breath and a covenant prayer.

It’s 9pm on the 31 st of December and rarely have I felt so uncertain about the coming year. There seem way more instability than usual in our national and international systems and given the record of early 2020 and 2021 all bets are off that there’s not something else coming down the track. Or perhaps October 7 th was that and it just came early. Or maybe it is the metastatic fall out from that day which will dominate early 2024. Tonight I’m at the top of a big wave, hovering there waiting, feeling rarely more alive just as the pre-reptilian bit of my brain flashes all the danger signals. A deep breath. And yet I am reminded of the prayer I led my church in this morning, written in the mid eighteenth century by John Wesley and since become an integral part of the Methodist Community’s life. I am no longer my own but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to...

Re-enchantment

The magical wonder of snow can be lost by a couple of degrees warming turning the white falling flakes into dismal rain. It is precisely the same elements of moisture and air, humidity and wind, yet the shifting of the one variant of temperature creates a totally different outcome. I have only managed three snow days in the mountains this winter, due to a combination of mostly busy diaries and a very unpredictable weather which meant days set aside for a climb would sometimes be literally a washout. Ina and I did have a good summitting of the Cobbler with the spikes on our boots giving us the grip we needed in the the last snow of the season, and I felt again the sheer wonder of walking in crisp, hard snow as the world fell away around us. It looks like it's gone for the year now though and we have to wait 9 months probably to get out onto the white stuff again. The hills just look wet and sodden now and most uninspiring... and yet...they are exactl...

· stillpoint ·

Search This Blog