"DO NOT BRING US TO THE TIME OF TRIAL"

We shall not actually be thinking about either trials or temptations for a week or two yet, but I feel as though I have been getting some practice in so that I shall be ready when we do.
Those of you who walk past will have noticed that the Vicarage is having a facelift (yes, another one). We have known for some time that there were places where the damp was getting it, and the diocese have decided to give the place a thorough going over and seal all the cracks.

Naturally we're pleased that the work is being done, but it has not been easy trying to work with hammers and grinders thundering away all day. Just to make things worse, our electricity cut out is so sensitive that for the first week they were constantly asking me to reset the trip, and after that they brought in their own generator.

Add to that the frustration caused by Radio Kent bringing forward the time of their Lent Course (which I had hoped to record) without telling anyone, and you can see that it has been far from a haven of peace and centre of spirituality around here for the last couple of weeks.

But in a strange way, and those of you who know me well will know that most of my thinking happens "in a strange way", all these frustrations DO have a part to play in preparing us for Easter. It can be so easy in Lent to indulge in "gesture religion". We go through the old familiar motions of going without chocolate, or sugar in our tea, and think that by doing so we are honouring our Lord. I don't think so.

As Jesus's mission led Him closer and closer to Jerusalem he knew that He was going to have to sacrifice much more than sugar or chocolate if He was going to do His father's will.

Keeping the Vicarage as a place of privacy and quietness is very important to us. We both need somewhere to rest and regroup after busy and often hectic days.
Now, there is nothing wrong with that in itself, and we should certainly not be able to offer a real welcome to visitors if we were truly "open all hours". But losing control over such an important part of our lives has been a "time of trial" for us, and, as I say, it has set me thinking.

Sacrifice has become something of a dirty word in a lot of modern theology. It, too, can lead to "gesture religion" where what we do becomes more important than why we do it.

But going without the things we value, even if only for a short time and even if the decision is made by someone else, can be good for us and can be Holy.
That is because the kind of sacrifice which honours God is one which in some small way mirrors the sacrifice He has made for us. He wants us to offer it not as some kind of "Danegeld", to buy His favour, but as a means of us better understanding that love always comes at a cost.

We shall never be able to pay the price that He has paid, but the plain and simple experience of feeling our own loss enables us better to appreciate what he has done for us - and that is what Lent is all about.

Christ give you grace to grow in holiness,
to deny yourselves, take up your cross, and follow him;
and may you find in this time of Lent, a greater appreciation of His love.

God bless you all.

Alan
1st March 2002