Scripture & Reflection: Sunday 9th March - the First Sunday of Lent - and for the week ahead:Scripture:‘Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.’ (Luke 4.1-2)Reflection: This week we enter the season of Lent, the six weeks leading up to Easter. It’s a time when we remember the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness at the very beginning of his ministry, facing up to the temptations that would have made life so much easier for him, and sorting out his priorities.Traditionally it’s a time for Christians to reflect on the things that really matter in our lives, and weeding out what is damaging or unhelpful. It’s not about being miserable, or about a programme of self-improvement, but about asking God to show us his purposes for us. The wilderness was a place without distractions. Can we, in our busy lives, create such a space?‘Lent’ is the Old English word for Spring, and speaks of growth, renewal, new life. May this season be for all of us a time of reflection and of joyful renewal.Revd Rosemary
Scripture & Reflection: Sunday 2nd March & for the week ahead:ScriptureThe Transfiguration28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure,[a] which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. (Luke 9. 28-31)ReflectionThere is much that is strange in the story of Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain but essentially, it is a story about a key moment in Jesus’ life. It is, most of all, a moment of prayer. It is as Jesus prays that his apprearance is changed. His physical transformation reflects the power of that intense, transcendent experience. It is in prayer that Jesus knows he is God’s son. It is in prayer, in the deep experience of embracing God’s presence, and being overwhelmed by it, that his apprearance is changed. In that experience, Jesus knows again the calling of his baptism and sees afresh the journey he must make to Gethsemane and beyond.It is in prayer that we too are invited to journey with Jesus, where we have the opportunity to encounter the love of God and to know that we are loved by God.I hope that you can take a moment today to be still in the presence of the Lord in prayer.Lyn Hayes ALM
