Lent. 40 days of prayer and preparation as we walk with Jesus to Jerusalem, to the upper room, to the garden, to the cross, and finally to the empty tomb. I love Lent… sometimes. I love when Lent allows me to spiritually declutter, like doing a factory re-set on a computer. When ‘done’ well, I find my priorities are clearer, and my walk is nearer. However, when ‘done’ poorly, Lent can see me landing at the finish line of Easter feeling either exhausted or guilty for not having done ‘enough’ or both.

A wise friend recently shared this quote from Eugene Peterson which nicely summed up the double-sided sword that is spiritual disciplines so often engaged in during Lent.

Without wonder, we approach spiritual formation as a self-help project. We employ techniques. We analyse gifts and potentialities. We set goals. We access progress. Spiritual formation is reduced to cosmetics. Without wonder, the motivational energies in spiritual formation get dominated by anxiety and guilt. Anxiety and guilt restrict; they close us in on ourselves. They isolate us with feelings of inadequacy or unworthiness; they reduce us to ourselves at our worst. Spiritual formation is distorted into moral workaholism or pious athleticism.

This morning I will be sharing a little about Lent, and sharing some of the ways in which we might engage creatively with it. But in doing so, I want to run away from moral workaholism or pious athleticism into the arms of a God of Grace.

If any of the events below lead you into wonder, then I commend them to you… Lenten Studies:

• Wednesday 11:00-12:15 | Beginning 22nd Feb (6 weeks)

• Friday 7:30-9:00pm | Beginning 24th Feb (6 weeks)

Both studies will be will be held in St Anne’s Chapel and led by the Vicar and will go through the Diocesan resource “A Holy Church: Becoming the Communities we are called to be.” The books are available for $8.50 at the back of the church.

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