Matthew tells us that immediately after Jesus’ baptism, immediately after the heavens open and the voice of God says, “This is my Son, the Beloved”, the Spirit leads him into the wilderness. Not away from God. Not into punishment. Not because he has failed. The Spirit leads him there. And that matters. Every one of […]
Well lent is here folks. We are at the beginning of our season of preparation, preparation for Easter. For the next forty days, the church encourages us to keep a Lenten fast by, and I quote from the Ash Wednesday service; “by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating […]
Why do we give things up or take things on during the season of Lent? It is certainly not something that Jesus’ first followers did. There is some evidence that early Christians fasted forty hours between Good Friday and Easter, but the custom of spending forty days in prayer and self-denial did not arise until […]
I recently came across some sermon notes for Ash Wednesday that I made 15 years ago. My notes were all about Ash Wednesday reminding us of our mortality. I was struck by how much sense those notes made then, but don’t make now. I was amazed by how much our world has changed in just […]