Walking with Christ through Lent

The season of Lent has deep roots in Church history. In the early church, the forty days of Lent were particularly focussed on preparing new converts for baptism at Easter. Over time, Lent developed into a broader pattern of Christian living, marked by prayer, fasting, meditation on God’s word, repentance, and almsgiving – all the ordinary “stuff” of the Christian life! In that sense, Lent is not meant to be a special season of sacrificial living so much as an annual reminder of what should always be true for us as Christians.

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8)

Giving something up for Lent is not about punishing ourselves or proving how disciplined we are. It is about loosening the grip of things that quietly grip us, so that we can cling more fully to Christ, and walk more attentively with him to the cross and the empty tomb.

This year, I would like to encourage each of us to accompany our giving up with a taking up. As we give up something, let us intentionally make room for prayer and attention to God. To help us do this, our Lent book this year is The Daily Liturgy Devotional: 40 Days of Worship and Prayer. 

The Daily Liturgy Devotional is a beautiful, hardback, all-in-one daily devotional, offering material to help us pray, read and meditate on Scripture, and even sing. It can be used individually or as part of a group.

The Christian bookseller, 10 of those, have generously made it available to us at just £5 a copy. If you’d like a copy, please sign up at the back of church, or email Nicola:

nicola@stjamestrowbridge.co.uk

May the Lord bless us as we journey with him this Lent.

Jake