We are at the start of our journey through Lent, and we are using “Holy Habits: Following Jesus” written by Andrew Roberts for our Lent reflections in the Ipswich Methodist Circuit this year. I have decided to pick up the themes for our Sunday Thought for the Day’s
Lent 1
Based on Luke 4: 1-13
The scenes of utter destruction in Turkey and Syria in the past couple of weeks have horrified most of us, and there are so many images we have seen of the devastation caused in just a few moments. I confess that I feel helpless as I look at the task that lies ahead of the people of the country as they start the mammoth journey of recovery, with thousands of people dead and many thousands more homeless, jobless, and with just the clothes they were wearing when disaster struck. I can recall times in my life when I have stood and felt helpless, faced with a situation that I simply wasn’t geared up to deal with, as people say these days “outside my comfort zone” yet no matter what I faced it was never on the scale of what is happening in Turkey and Syria today.
In first century, Palestine Jesus was faced with an enormous challenge, he was at the start of a journey that would lead to a fresh way of looking at faith, religion, Church, whatever you might want to call it. He was here among people, about to transform the way humankind thought and lived, his teaching would establish a new church and create a movement that would influence the world for over two thousand years and reach out to an estimated 2.4 billion people across the globe today, representing just over thirty percent of the whole population, which still makes it the largest religious grouping in the world. Jesus, in his wilderness days has two main companions, The Holy Spirit and Scripture. Dot Cotton, the Eastenders character was renowned for quoting passages of scripture in different circumstances, which on the odd occasion that I saw her, somewhat amused me, it has never been my style, but clearly Jesus continually tried to put his own words and actions into the context of scripture.
I feel helpless as I look on the scenes in Turkey and Syria, the same way that I have done in the past when disasters have struck other parts of the world. Like Jesus, we have The Holy Spirit and Scripture to guide us through situations like this.
- Can you think of times in your own life when you have had to rely upon God?
- How has your faith helped you through some of the biggest challenges in life?