This was what we did at our housegroup this morning.
A moment to pause and reflect
Lent is a time for reflection, for confession, for honesty before God. It is an opportunity also to seek God’s forgiveness – and receive it, deep into our heart and mind; to know that those things that trouble us, and those we are barely aware of but affect us deeply, can be dealt with by God; and to receive his peace.
Ashes are a way to show sorrow, a physical sign of an inner reality.
Ashes mark penitence and mourning, an acknowledgement of and sorrow at our wrongdoing.
We go through life. We think we’re doing ok – not a bad job all things considered. Or we don’t even have time to stop and think about it. We are busy just surviving, getting to the next thing, trying to hold everything together.
But sometimes we are pulled up short. We realise we have got something badly wrong, or just a little bit wrong, and we have to stop and think. We need to apologise, put right what we have got wrong and receive forgiveness. Though often the hardest person to forgive is ourselves.
Lent is a specific opportunity to do that thinking. To take the time to purposely reflect before God on the reality that is our life.
Burning,
cleansing God,
I come before you today;
I want to take this time
to remember,
to honestly recall,
to examine my life
in your presence;
to ask myself
if I live up to all you ask of me,
day by day,
heartbeat by heartbeat,
in every corner of my life.
Lord,
I come before you in shame,
In penitence,
to say that I am truly sorry.
My life is not what you would have it be,
I have not lived as the person you called me to be,
I have got some things very wrong.
As I think of the ashes,
the dirt and the dust,
I see the darkness in my life;
I rub my hands in it
and see and feel the stain…
Forgive me,
I pray.
Thank you
that you promise forgiveness
and give it freely.
This day may I go,
marked by you,
forgiven,
restored
and free?
In and through
Your love
~~~
Bread,
an everyday staple,
nothing flash,
just what was there
on the table
amongst us.
Then he took it,
made it something incredibly special,
turned it into something that would remind us of him,
– each time
we took it
and ate.
Something always with us,
always using,
a daily part of our diet,
now reminds us of Jesus,
his time among us
and his presence with us now.
~~~
The body of Christ
Broken for me
Broken,
torn,
bleeding,
hurting.
Broken like me.
The body of Christ
Broken for me
~~~
Wine,
rich,
red,
flowing,
warming,
deep within,
his presence
here now.
In me,
with me,
through me,
from him.
I am invited to take,
to eat,
to remember
who,
what
and why
this has become a symbol
his love
poured out
for me,
for us,
for a world in need.
I am invited to take.
Urged to share.
And may God bless us –
those we love and care
those who we live amongst
today
and always
Amen
