kneel in wonder at heaven touching earth

Help us to use these days to grow in wisdom and prayer

I usually help lead, or at least attend, one of the Lent Study Groups at Church. But this year that isn’t going to happen. Something else that my current health issues are getting in the way of. The problem is, without the Church groups, I’ve been completely useless about organizing an alternative for myself. I do generally buy one of the many Lent books that are produced every year, but haven’t done so this year.

So I decided eventually that I would just use some of the resources I already have at home, and save some money. Over the last few months while I’ve been ill, I’ve been trying to say Morning Prayer every day. Sometimes, though, it has been missed more than it should have been.

One of my Lent disciplines this year is therefore to try harder with Morning Prayer, make it more of a priority. That will, I hope, help me to “grow in prayer”.

And a second Lent discipline, one to help me “grow in wisdom”, is to use the Tom Wright “For Everyone” commentary’s for the New Testament lessons each morning. The New Testament Lessons on the weekdays during Lent all come from Galatians, Hebrews, and Luke for Holy Week. I’ve found them to be very accessible books; but then I like pretty well all Tom Wright does, even his more academic writing published under the N. T. Wright name.

It won’t be the same as studying as a part of a group, and I suspect the discipline will be more difficult on my own. But I’ve made a good start this week, and hope to continue in the same vein. Hopefully I will have a good Lent despite my health.

Heavenly Father,
your Son battled with the powers of darkness,
and grew closer to you in the desert:
help us to use these days to grow in wisdom and prayer
that we may witness to your saving love
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Additional Collect for the First Sunday of Lent
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council

Lent can be more than a time of fasting; it can be a season of feasting. We can use Lent to fast from certain things and to feast on others. Lent is a season in which we can:

Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ indwelling them.
Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of all life.
Fast from apparent darkness; feast on the reality of light.
Fast from thoughts of illness; feast on the healing power of God.
Fast from words that pollute; feast on phrases that purify.
Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger; feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.
Fast from worry; feast on divine order.
Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.
Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.
Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.
Fast from hostility; feast on non-resistance.
Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.
Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal Truth.
Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.
Fast from facts that depress; feast on truths that uplift.
Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm.
Fast from suspicion; feast on truth.
Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.
Fast from shadows of sorrow; feast on the sunlight of serenity.
Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence.
Fast from problems that overwhelm; feast on prayer that undergirds.

- William Arthur Ward
(American author, teacher and pastor, 1921-1994.)

There’s quite a few of those that I could do well to listen to, and act upon, sometimes. Real food for thought this Lent.