Parish of Llandudno North Wales, Rector's letter June 2008

March 2011

We are usually pleased to receive an invitation. Even if the event is not to our taste it’s nice to be asked! Soon we will all be receiving a very special invitation – not to a wedding or to a party – but to the keeping of Lent! At the liturgy on Ash Wednesday we will hear these words:

‘I invite you....in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent.’

The important question is - how will we respond?

In a way our response will be almost immediate. By coming to receive a cross of ash on our foreheads we will be committing ourselves to observe Lent well. But what will this mean in practice, what are we actually going to do to make it happen? And anyway what does it mean to keep a ‘holy Lent?’

Lent, as we know it, developed out of various practices in the ancient church which led up to the celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ at Easter. It was the time in which candidates for baptism were prepared for the sacrament at the Festival and it also became a period when those who had committed grave sins and had been ‘excommunicated’ i.e. barred from Communion, went through a time of penance before being re-admitted at Easter. Gradually Lent became a time when all Christians went through a time of penitence in preparation for the keeping of Easter – and that is essentially what it remains today.

The spiritual background to Lent is of course Our Lord’s time in the desert during which he was tempted by Satan. So to keep Lent properly means firstly being willing to go with Him spiritually to this place of testing and in His company and with His help to face up to our own ‘demons’, acknowledging ourselves as sinners in need of His grace.

This should indeed be our spiritual attitude and intent – but what should we do in a practical sense?

Prayer, worship and reflection on scripture should obviously be particularly important to us at this time of year and should receive more attention than we usually give them. In these things we will indeed be with our Lord in the desert. There are plenty of opportunities in our parish to involve ourselves more deeply – for instance we could attend an extra Eucharist during the week, take part in the Julian meditation group (see Special Events) or the St Raphael Guild prayers.

Then there’s the ‘giving up’ side of things. I think this is still important. It may be something simple like giving up chocolates or the drinking of alchohol, or perhaps just eating less in a general sense. What we give up isn’t important in itself though it should obviously be something we really like – or there’s no point in the exercise! The real point is that by giving something up we are making a gift of ourselves to God and we are saying that material things or our fleshly desires should not dominate our lives. It’s a way of putting these things in their proper place!

‘Taking on’ is also an important factor. Lent may well be a time to start doing something we know we ought to do – perhaps making our Confession, or starting to practice the prayer of meditation, or maybe beginning a new commitment such as visiting a lonely person or getting involved with work with the homeless etc. It might mean dealing with a problem in our life we have been trying to avoid!

The purpose of all these things is to grow closer to Christ and to acknowledge our need of His grace. This is the true keeping of a Holy Lent.

There is much to help us in our Lenten programme for 2011. The Quiet Day on March 19th is an opportunity to leave behind the busyness and the concerns of daily life to be with our Lord in the silence just for a short time. The evening with Peter Owen-Jones on March 24th will also be a wonderful opportunity to reflect on deep spiritual matters. Our Lent course ‘Growing the Church’ will help us to reflect together on the life of our parish in the light of the Acts of the Apostles and the experience of Christians in many parts of the world today. If you come along to make the Stations of the Cross with the children of our school you will undoubtedly grow closer to Christ in his passion and death. These and other events (see Special Events and Calendar for the month) are designed to help us all keep Lent well, please use them! And if I can help you to prepare for Lent in any way please don’t hesitate to ask. (Contact the Rector)

We are offered the invitation, by Christ though his church to keep a holy Lent, how indeed are we going to respond?

Fr. John

top of page

Previous letters: