Lent is not something as much as it is the absence of something.

The thing about going without is that it moves our attention from the thing to the lack of the thing.

As if we turn our attention to the voids in our lives, by creating a void. In going without, I am aware of something missing in my life. The lack of something material that creates, for a season, a noticeable shadow.

And in being aware of that shadow, I am drawn to all the other shadows in my life.

Like the void in my conscience that Christ’s voice should be filling.

Or the void in my timetable that meditation should be filling.

I think lent is about creating pot-holes for the sake of the whole road. As I fast, I am more tuned to the feelings of ‘want’ and ‘need’. Feelings that serve to push me back towards the mysterious divine, the father, and all those voids that the material world cannot satisfy.

Today is Shrove Tuesday. Traditionally it’s a day of feasting before fasting starts tomorrow. So join together and have some fun tonight because tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the first of 40 days of Abstinence!

What will you give up to make room for God this Lent?

The season of Lent is approaching. And as in every new season change occurs. Buds appear, or the leaves fall. Dramatic moments that usher in creations changing moods. Times of singing, times of mourning. Time for being outside, time for staying indoors.

Lent is an interior season, first and foremost. It’s a time of reflection. The Gardener comes after a season of growth, productivity and harvest, and digs the soil, turns it over, exposes, waters, nourishes and then plants again, imagining the new crop. Lent invites gardener God to expose our lack and need of light and truth, probing the darkness and revealing the hidden, offering us the power of healing, forgiveness and freedom.

Lent. What is hidden in my life? What are my secrets. What are my Sins….? “Bring your light God, let truth expose darkness, nourish and cleanse, remove, and replace with seeds of life and fruitfulness.”

Lent. My sacrifice (a bar of chocolate?), my offering (the price of a coffee?), my prayer (Forgive me Lord), and an opportunity to give myself away again to a cause greater than my own.

How does a contemporary church partake in an ancient practice called Lent? Over a 40 days period that is symbolic of Jesus’ 40 days of testing and preparation in the wilderness, we fast, we pray, we gather and we tell stories.

Don’t do this alone. Even though its an individual experience, it also a shared community event. So come and pray together on Thursdays, worship in our community meetings on Sundays. And in People Groups, converse and encourage each other around your challenges and experiences,

This is a serious yet a great season to reflect and be honest, to make sacrifices and repent, and to emerge changed and refreshed.

Enjoy Lent Edge.

In western Christian tradition, January 6 is celebrated as Epiphany. It goes by other names in various church traditions.  In Hispanic and Latin culture, as well as some places in Europe, it is known as Three Kings’ Day. For many Protestant church traditions, the season of Epiphany extends from January 6th until Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent leading to Easter.

This is a time to reflect again on the broader meaning of Epiphany in the christian experience. The  longing and pursuit of supernatural encounter, holy moments, and sudden realisation. A meeting with the divine so to speak.

Just like the Magi opened their treasures and presented them to Jesus, let’s re-present our lives to God in expectation of what lies ahead in 2010.

So here’s what we bought as a church – together – through World Vision’s “Gifts of Hope” program.

All the info about this initiative can be found at:
https://worldvision.org.nz/Catalogue/GiftsOfHope/

Business Loan x 4
Dairy Goats + Training x 8
Chickens x 3
Water Maintenance + Filters x 1
Pump x 1

Thanks team!
Beautiful.

The Virgin birth is more, much more than a Christmas story; it is a picture of how close Christ will come to you.
The first stop on his itinerary was a womb. Where will God go to touch the world?
Look deep within Mary for an answer.
Better still, look deep within yourself.
What he did with mary, he offers to us.
He issues a Mary level invitation to all his children.
‘If you let me, I’ll move in!”

-Max Lucado, ‘Next Door Saviour’ 2003

Advent is a season of Waiting, a hopeful expectation of something new to come.
Some of our hopes and dreams are our own to hold onto, things that perhaps others will not nurture or appreciate the way we will.
Others come with an excited announcement, and command the attention of the family or the community.

A pregnancy for example.
The good news can be contained for a brief few weeks by the expectant parents, but before long it manages to find a way into the ears and hearts of friends and loved ones.
And the expectant parents then wait for the arrival assisted by the anticipation and excitement of the extended family.

Mary contained her news briefly, but before long had to share it with another who could identify and understand her joy. Her cousin Elizabeth was also overwhelmed with this same sense  of life as she was six months into a pregnancy that was conceived out of barrenness.

So they waited together and wrote songs about the coming event.
Advent is a season where we gather with  friends, families and  a community who shares the same hope. We tell stories of the coming king, we celebrate and exchange gifts.
We wait together.