This week included Ash Wednesday, and now the start of Lent. We are forty days from Easter, and the period of Lent traditionally is a time for self-observance, prayer and fasting. It is a time of personal growth in faith. It also invokes a variety of reactions. Do we give up something or take something up? If we give up something, how do we cope when we slip up? This is rich ground for demoralising ourselves and losing sight of the underlying intention to grow in faith.
The set readings for Holy Communion today appear at first sight to contradict each other. The Old Testament reading from Isaiah 58 points to new acts of service rather the new measures of personal humility and piety. Indeed, the message from God challenges this type of personal fast. After that he says:
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: ‘Here am I’. (Isiah 58: 6-9a)
However, the New Testament implies that fasting is a mournful activity suggesting personal self-denial.
Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. (Matthew 9:14-15)
So how do we tie this together? Do we build community or reflect on our own lives? Elsewhere in scripture Jesus calls out people who look sombre and disfigured when they fast (Matthew 6:16). It seems to me that the season of Lent is a time for both personal reflection and self-adjustment, and reviewing our attitude to others leading to a building up of community. When we set aside time in Lent to reflect on the events we are about to remember – the betrayal, arrest, crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus – we cannot help but grow in gratitude. The annual cycle of seasons in the church’s year starts with Advent. Lent follows the Christmas and Epiphany weeks. I believe that this is a spiral not a cycle. Cycle implies that we go back to the beginning, starting where we were a year ago. However, when we reflect honestly about ourselves, each year is a life of experience, including coping with loss, coping with our failures, remembering our restorations and recalling our happier times. We bring these experiences with us as we start this year's Lent journey. And as we journey with Jesus I believe we cannot help but grow in our gratitude for the unending patience, grace and forgiveness of God.
That in turn gives a new peace of mind and joy. This joy should be infectious as we overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13). This will in turn build community both by our attitude and actions.
And so, Lent should be a challenging yet fulfilling few weeks. When we do these things we can reflect on the promise in the prophetic word of Isaiah, which says:
‘Your light will rise, the Lord will guide, the Lord will strengthen, and you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with dwellings.’ (from Isaiah 58:10-12)
Revd Canon Nigel Rawlinson
University Chaplain
7-3-25
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