A new day dawning Holy Week: Easter Day

Reading Matthew 28.1-10 After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” This is my message for you.’ So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’

Reflection  Here we are, we’ve made it. A new day has dawned. We’ve woken up to the brightest, most momentous day in all of history. Today, stretched across the entirety of the world, billions of people are celebrating the all-consuming, all-involving, all-encompassing fact that Jesus is alive.  His tomb is found empty. He is not dead, he is risen. He’s beaten death, just as he said he would.  This is the event upon which everything rests. It changes everything, explains everything, redeems everything. We cannot overstate this: Jesus’ resurrection is everything.   Perhaps this is why the first words that both the angel and Jesus say to the women are – ‘don’t be afraid!’. I think the meaning of those words are twofold, I think they’re saying:  Firstly, you’re about to see a man you thought was dead, very much alive. Don’t freak out.  Secondly, this resurrected Saviour is going to change your entire life.  Easter can feel overwhelming when you really believe it happened. The knowledge that Jesus wins, life wins, grace wins – that can be scary because it changes everything. It’s so consequential, I don’t even have words for it. It’s so wonderful, my brain naturally wants to dismiss it as some kind of ‘too good to be true’ story. But it’s not, is it? It’s just very good and wonderfully true.

Challenge I have a very simple question for you: how does this day transform your life?  ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.’ (1 Peter 1.3)  Lord, we thank you that you are our living hope. Easter is our living hope. The empty tomb is our living hope. We thank you today, we thank you tomorrow – because of your resurrection, we get to thank you for all eternity. Amen

Waiting expectantlyHoly Week: Easter Eve

Reading Luke 23.50-56 Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

Reflection  ‘Waiting expectantly’ – that’s all we can really do on Easter Eve, isn’t it? Wait and hope that what Jesus said might happen, would. Hope that who he said he is, he proves to be. Hope that we’ve put our faith in the right thing, trusted in the right saviour.  Holy Saturday – both literally and figuratively – is an incredibly vulnerable place to be. It’s the in-between, the middle ground, the agonising wait. A tipping point between hope and despair.    We find ourselves utterly dependent on God, helpless to bring transformation ourselves. Believing that Jesus was going to save the world when he was lying in a tomb must have seemed almost ludicrous.   But we know what comes next…

Challenge We have the benefit of knowing what the day after that first Easter Eve held. We don’t have that luxury when it comes to our current circumstances, the places in our own lives where faith feels almost absurd. Why not talk to God about those things now?

Earth-shaking Holy Week: Good Friday

Reading Matthew 27.45-54 From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘This man is calling for Elijah.’ At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.’ Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many. Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’

Reflection  There’s something so powerful about the way that the natural world seemed to physically react to the death of Jesus: ‘from noon on, darkness came over the whole land… The earth shook, and the rocks were split’.  What happened – on that day, on that hill – has repercussions that span all of time and space.  Jesus, who was there at the creation of our world, had just been killed upon it. I’m just awed at the idea that creation told humanity the magnitude of what had just happened. It truly speaks of Jesus’ might and majesty, doesn’t it?  So powerful was creation’s response to the death of its creator, it transformed the guards’ idea of who Jesus truly was – convincing them that he was, in fact, who he said he was: ‘God’s Son!’.

Challenge This Friday, on the surface, doesn’t feel very ‘good’ at all, does it? Yet, we know that it is. Let’s pray an incredibly simple, yet powerful, prayer today:  ‘God, would you remind me why this Friday is, in fact, very good?’

This is my body Holy Week: Maundy ThursdayReading

Luke 22.14-20
When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. He said to them, ‘I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’ Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Reflection 

It seems almost unbelievable to me that there is any part of this week that Jesus ‘eagerly desired’ – but those are the exact words he uses when speaking of his last supper. He actively wanted to share this experience with his disciples And, through the taking of communion in our own churches and communities, with us too. 

All over the world, and for centuries gone by, people have eaten bread and drunk wine ‘in remembrance’ of this meal, this week, this saviour. 

Isn’t that amazing? Jesus has transformed billions of strangers into one family, held together by the ‘new covenant’ that he died to give us. 

Easter happened for you and it happened for me – but it also happened for us. The victory is, ultimately, collective.
 
Challenge

In the three days that are to come – the tough and the triumphant – remind yourself that you do not mourn, nor celebrate them alone. You and I, we’ve been brought into a family larger than we could fathom. 

Joy and sorrow Holy Week: Wednesday

Reading John 16.20-23 Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. When a woman is in labour, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.

Reflection  We were never promised a sorrow-free life, Jesus makes that really clear. In fact, he’s specifically telling his disciples that what’s about to happen is going to hurt them. A lot.  Do you reckon Jesus is giving them, and us, a glimpse here? A glimpse into his own understanding of the immense pain he’s about to go through? How he’s grappling with it himself? The hope and truth that he’s holding onto?   It may be my imagination, but I have this little feeling that these are words that he’s spoken over himself many times. Jesus endured this week – walking into it, even as it led him to his death – because he knew there was immense ‘joy set before him’ (Hebrews 12.2). You are a part of that joy. How wonderful is that?

Challenge We all carry sorrow – some big and some small. Maybe today we could be vulnerable enough to name it, to tell God about it (knowing that he knows it all anyway) and to read Jesus’ promise again, reminding ourselves that it will, one day, be transformed.

A simple act Holy Week: Tuesday

Reading Mark 14.3-9 While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, ‘Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.’ And they scolded her. But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’

Reflection  We’re inching toward a day we’re dreading, aren’t we? A day we know is coming, and must come, but still wish it wouldn’t.  Imagine being Jesus, feeling the full force of knowing what was about to happen. Imagine the fear, the dread, the determination, the hope – imagine having to feel all of those things at the same time. It’s unfathomable.  This unnamed woman poured nard all over Jesus, and in so doing, ‘anointed his body for its burial’. We don’t know if she knew that, if that’s what she intended or not. But we know that Jesus knew that. Nard is famous for having a long-lasting scent, so it’s probable that Jesus still smelt of this perfume as he hung on the cross.   Even in the unknown and outright frightening circumstances of the week – as tensions built and built – this woman kept trusting that Jesus was who he said he was. And she worshipped him.

Challenge As we move closer to Friday, maybe today is a good day to transform our own trepidations at what’s to come into thankfulness – letting our thankfulness at what Jesus has done infuse our day.

Holy Week: Transformed We’ve arrived at Holy Week. The week we dread, the week we long to reach. The week that holds both tragedy and triumph. As we spend each day together, inching our way toward the cross, we’ll be focusing on the theme of ‘Transformed’. Belle Tindall introduces this week’s theme for our Living Hope Lent reflections.  Watch this week’s video.  Prayer for the week Lord, we don’t have the words to thank  you for what this week means, for what  you did. May your word and your presence  transform our hearts, and therefore our  lives, over the coming days. Amen.

‘Advocating’ for truth  Holy Week: Monday

Reading John 16.7-13 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. ‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

Reflection  Jesus knows that this week is going to be incredibly tough, not only for him, but the people who have been with him. It’s about to be confusing, disorienting and incredibly painful. Perhaps that is why he chooses this moment to talk about the arrival of the ‘Advocate’ – the one we more often call the Holy Spirit – who would come at Pentecost.  Holy Spirit, the third person of the Three-In-One-God, has many names and does many things. So, it’s interesting to wonder – why does Jesus specifically use the name ‘Advocate’ here? What is he trying to highlight?  I think a clue might be in verse 13, when Jesus then calls him ‘the Spirit of Truth’. Many lies were about to be told about Jesus, lies which would lead to his execution. So, it’s like Jesus is promising – someone is going to come and tell you the truth about me. It may not look like it, but the truth will win.

Challenge Let’s get deeper into this: when you think of the specific role of an ‘Advocate’, what do you think of?  How might it have transformed mourning into hope?

Taking up our crossWeek 5: WeekendReadingLuke 9.23-27 Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.’Reflection We’re on the cusp of Holy Week, preparing to accompany Jesus on the journey to the cross. And his message is that, if we want to follow him, we’ll need to take up our own cross too. No slick marketing or sugar-coating here. It’s a pretty stark invitation! Why would anyone say yes to it? Why would we choose the suffering and pain that Jesus endured?The only answer is Jesus himself. We find full and lasting hope only in Jesus. So we want to be where he is. And that means allowing our lives to be transformed by him, going to the hurting places where he goes, having the courage to risk the costs involved. In other words, being as Jesus-like as we can be wherever we find ourselves, knowing that this led Jesus to the cross.  ChallengeWhat is Jesus like? Write down some of the words you would use to describe him. Then think about the next twenty-four hours. What opportunities might you have to be more Jesus-like?

Reading

Isaiah 1.16-17
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
    remove the evil of your doings
    from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
    learn to do good;
seek justice,
    rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
    plead for the widow.

Reflection 

Isaiah doesn’t pull his punches. He’s speaking to God’s people and telling them that they’ve gone off track. They need to turn things around and start doing good, putting things right within their community and society. 

But what’s that got to do with hope?

Well, firstly, we put our hope in the God who cares about justice. When we find ourselves vulnerable and in need of help, we trust that God is bringing about a world where all will flourish.

But hope isn’t just a distant promise – something we hold on to in order to make the present more bearable. It’s something God calls us to put into practice now and to share with the world. We’re invited to make the injustice others experience our problem and be active in seeking, rescuing, defending and pleading. When we do this we show others what God is like, and we bring hope.

Challenge

Is there a situation where you could play a more active role to bring justice? How could your words or actions help others flourish?

Changing direction Week 5: Thursday

Reading Luke 19.1-10 He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycomore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’ So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’ Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’

Reflection  A joyful surprise can sometimes mean our priorities suddenly shift.  This is what happened when Zacchaeus met Jesus. Zacchaeus was unpopular for collecting tax on behalf of the Romans. The fact that he was probably collecting a bit extra for himself only made things worse. But something prompts him to try and get a glimpse of Jesus. And Jesus surprises him by coming round to his house for a meal.  We’re not told that Jesus gave any instructions to Zacchaeus about what he should do next. All we know is that, after spending time with Jesus, Zacchaeus found the courage to change all his priorities. He seeks to do justice and to share what he has with others.  When we discover that our identity is found in being a beloved child of God, it changes everything. Secure in that hope, we can hold other things more lightly and find the courage to rearrange our priorities.

Challenge Do the things you prioritise in your everyday life reflect the hope you have as God’s child? Are there areas where God might be inviting you to find the courage to change?

Hungry and thirsty Week 5: WednesdayReading Matthew 5.1-12 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Reflection  Jesus’ words here must have been confusing, even shocking, to some of those hearing it for the first time. If we told someone who was mourning or being persecuted that they were ‘blessed’, they might give us some pretty strange looks. But Jesus is getting at something important. God’s kingdom works in a completely different way from the way in which the world normally operates. It’s a kingdom in which the last are first, in which mercy, peace and integrity are what really matter.  In hope, we trust God that a time will come when revenge, war and dishonesty are no more. But this hope also leads us to have the courage to live differently in the present. We may meet resistance. But every time we show mercy, build bridges or demonstrate humility, we are playing a part in God’s kingdom coming on earth.  Challenge Read Jesus’ words again slowly, asking God to show you how these might relate to your everyday experiences. What opportunities do you have in your everyday life to be merciful or promote peace?

Daring to pray

Week 5: TuesdayReading

Ephesians 6.18-20
Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

Reflection 

Paul was living at a time when it wasn’t easy to be a Christian. As in parts of the world today, it could be dangerous to follow Jesus or to tell others about him. 

Paul ended up in prison several times and he wrote this letter to the Ephesians from prison. To keep hoping in God, and keep living out that hope visibly, was going to take courage.

Paul’s solution? Pray, pray and pray! 

We might sometimes think of prayer as a passive alternative to action. But, for Paul, nothing could be further from the truth. He encourages us to have conversations with God all the time about everything. Partly prayer is about asking our generous God to help us and give us the strength we can’t find alone. Prayer is also about simply nurturing the most important relationship we have. 

Challenge

Do you find it easier to pray for others or to ask others to pray for you? Could you try doing the one that feels more challenging?

Week 5: Courage When we know that we can trust God and put our hope in him, this can give us the courage to seek change where it is needed. Rooted in the hopeful future God offers us, we dare to reimagine the present.  Victoria Mason introduces this week’s theme for our Living Hope Lent reflections.  Watch this week’s video.  Prayer for the week God our hope, thank you that you never  change. Help us to trust you so much that  we find the courage to look afresh at things  that might need to change for the better.  Amen.

Prepared Week 5: Monday

Reading Ephesians 6.10-17 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Reflection  In this passage, Paul talks about the ‘cosmic powers of this present darkness’ and the ‘spiritual forces of evil’. It’s language that may feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar.  But Paul is inviting us to notice something important: there are dimensions of reality that we can’t see. When we try to reflect Jesus in our lives, we often find that we meet resistance.  God is the only one who can overcome evil once and for all. In order to act and live courageously, we need to put our hope in God. The image of the ‘armour of God’ can help us think practically about this. Every part of ourselves – our thoughts, our words, our values, our actions – needs God’s protection and inspiration. Spending time with God, reminding ourselves that we are loved and saved in Christ, and reading the Bible are just some of the ways we can put on our ‘armour’.

Challenge Look again at how Paul describes each part of the armour. Try imagining putting each piece on. Is there one that stands out to you?

Perceive it Week 4: WeekendReading Isaiah 43.19 I am about to do a new thing;     now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness     and rivers in the desert. Reflection  I think God might be up to something. Our great and gracious God is up to something beautiful in this cultural moment, I’m certain of it. The evidence is all over the place.   And, I’m wondering – do you agree?  I seem to be bumping into people, in all kinds of places, who are more intrigued about God than ever before.  Are you seeing this, too? Do you sense that God might be ‘doing a new thing’? Making himself known in new ways?  Each unexpected conversation I’m having about God (and, trust me, I’m no natural evangelist!) is filling me with hope and excitement.  Challenge What would you like to see God do in our culture? What are the signs of it happening already?

Noticing in the present (part 2)Week 4: Friday Reading Psalm 19.1-6 The heavens are telling the glory of God   and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. One day pours out its song to another   and one night unfolds knowledge to another. They have neither speech nor language   and their voices are not heard, Yet their sound has gone out into all lands   and their words to the ends of the world. In them has he set a tabernacle for the sun,   that comes forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber     and rejoices as a champion to run his course. It goes forth from the end of the heavens     and runs to the very end again,   and there is nothing hidden from its heat. Reflection  There’s a quote by the poet, Ingrid Goff-Maidoff, that simply says ‘God spoke today in flowers, and I, who was waiting on words, almost missed the conversation’.  Creation, the natural world, even the tiniest little pockets of it – that’s one of our best resources for remembering the hugeness, the joy, the creativity and the beauty of the One who made it all.  If you want to be reminded of the sovereignty of God, look to the skies and remind yourself that every star is there by his command. If you need reminding of his creativity, take a walk and spend five minutes studying the first flower you come across. If you need to trust his ability to provide, go in search of some sparrows. It’s all there, telling the glory of God. Let’s not overlook it, let’s allow it to fill us with hope.  Challenge Why not go outside, or look out of a window, and simply notice? All that you see is telling you something about the God that made it, and about you.

Noticing in the past (part 2)  Week 4: Wednesday

Reading Psalm 9.1 I will give thanks to you, Lord, with my whole heart;   I will tell of all your marvelous works.

Reflection  Being actively thankful, as is mentioned in this psalm, is like pouring petrol on the flames of your hope. I was in a church service once. In a quiet moment between songs, one man started listing the things – big and small – that God had done for him that week.  At first, nobody quite knew what to do, but within minutes, the whole room was doing the same thing. I spoke to that man after the service, thanking him for kicking off such a powerful moment. He told me how he had come to church feeling hopeless – and so he decided to fight that hopelessness with thankfulness.   This is why Paul tells us to be thankful in all circumstances, because it’s a tool with which we can demolish hopelessness.

Challenge I love how the psalm tells us to get specific with our thankfulness, it tells us to bring to mind specific ‘wonderful deeds’ God has done. So, let me ask you, what wonderful deeds have you seen God do this past week?

Noticing in the past (part 1)  Week 4: Tuesday

Reading Genesis 12.6-7 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Reflection  There’s a detail that I just love in Abraham’s story – he keeps setting up altars.  Again and again, we see that as soon as God does or says something, Abraham builds a physical reminder of what has been done or said. This is so that he, and his descendants after him, will bump into these altars for years to come – they’ll bump into reminders of God’s goodness.  We’re so prone to forgetting, aren’t we?  We can be living in answers to prayers that we’ve forgotten we even prayed. No wonder our hope can feel fragile at times; when we forget what God has done, we’ll have less confidence in what he can do. So, maybe we need to intentionally recall – and then find tangible ways of remembering – how God has come through for us.

Challenge Today, why don’t we carve out a little time to make something or write something – to create ‘altars’ of remembrance, just as Abraham did, knowing that God’s still moving and working.

Week 4: Noticing

As we move into the fourth week of Lent, we are tasking ourselves with the art of noticing. Noticing what God is doing in our lives, our communities, our world. 

Belle Tindall introduces this week’s theme for our Living Hope Lent reflections. 

Watch this week’s video.

 Prayer for the week

Lord, our prayer this week is a simple one: 
help us to notice you. Help us to quieten 
our loud minds and centre our distracted 
hearts. Don’t let us miss what you’re up to 
in our lives. Amen.

Don’t miss it 

Week 4: MondayReading

Genesis 28.10-17

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went towards Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’ Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!’ And he was afraid, and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’

Reflection

It’s possible to miss God. It’s possible for him to have been up to something, right before our eyes, and we didn’t spot it. 

How interesting is that? 

God is always doing things that we can’t see but it’s worth remembering that sometimes he gives us glimpses. 

However, noticing them isn’t inevitable. 

Paying attention to what God is doing in our lives, on our streets, in our churches, within our families and communities, in our country, in our world – it’s the quickest and simplest way to revive our hope, to remind ourselves of God’s care and faithfulness.

Challenge

Today, we could use Jacob’s prayer as our own, tweaking it a little:
‘Surely, Lord, you are in 
this place/day/office/home 
(insert wherever you’ll spend today) 
– don’t let me miss it. 
Help me to notice what you’re up to.

Communities of hope Week 3: Weekend

Reading John 15.12-17 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

Reflection  Our reading today reminds us that, if we are going to be people of hope, we need to stay close to Jesus. Reflecting on this passage, the writer Debie Thomas notes that ‘branches that refuse to cling to the vine die’. When we remain connected to Christ, we are filled with life and purpose. This is true individually and collectively. Staying close to Christ means staying close to the one who sought to serve, rather than be served. The purpose of Christian communities is to serve as instruments of God’s work in the world. As we gather, we must work to encourage belonging and solidarity, especially as we seek to transform unjust structures in society.  Our challenge is to become communities of hope in spaces where hope seems absent. Jesus commanded us to bear fruit that lasts. So, what kind of fruit are we producing in our communities today?

Challenge This weekend, pray to God for a renewal of the Holy Spirit in your community. Pray that God would equip you to be agents of hope within and across borders.

Together as one Week 3: Thursday

Reading Revelation 7.9-14 After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’ And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, singing, ‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.’ Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, ‘Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?’ I said to him, ‘Sir, you are the one that knows.’ Then he said to me, ‘These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Reflection  We live in a world which can feel very divided. Our culture, too, encourages us to polarise – to stick with people ‘like us’.  But we are also all too aware of the damaging impact of division. We don’t have to scroll through the news for long before we hear of conflicts across the world and close to home. But it doesn’t have to be this way. And it won’t always be this way.  In our reading today, John describes a vision of heaven’s perfect worship service, where a diverse multitude, saved by Christ, gathers in unity. Although our diversity remains, we will all be united worshipping God face to face. This is the complete, beautiful worship we look forward to, in hope. This vision also invites us to consider how God’s kingdom can come on earth today. How can we build communities where all are welcome – where we reflect God’s image in all our diversity?

Challenge Reflect on these words from the Apostles Creed: ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit…, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins’. What might this look like in your community?

Coming alongside  Week 3: Wednesday

Reading Job 2.11-13 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. They sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

Reflection  Have you ever encountered someone in deep pain, unsure of how to comfort them? Perhaps, before seeing their suffering, you knew exactly what to say. Ask Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar – their experience with Job illustrates this well.  They had heard about Job’s calamities and thought they knew the right words. But when they saw his condition, all they could do was sit with him in silence. Sometimes, this is the only response possible.  When I was growing up, we sang a Shona song that says, ‘Sometimes my burdens are too heavy to bear…you pray for me, and I’ll pray for you… why don’t you pray for me?’  This song is a heartfelt plea for help, a call for compassion. It reminds us of the importance of coming alongside others in their pain. We might not have the words, but our simple presence and empathy can bring hope.

Challenge Is there anyone in your community or family whom you can come alongside – to listen, to pray, simply to be with?

Walking solo or with others?

Week 3: TuesdayReading

Ecclesiastes 4.7-12
Again, I saw vanity under the sun: the case of solitary individuals, without sons or brothers; yet there is no end to all their toil, and their eyes are never satisfied with riches. ‘For whom am I toiling’, they ask, ‘and depriving myself of pleasure?’ This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Reflection

Walking solo and walking with others are both powerful metaphors for our journey through faith and through life. Walking alone offers solitude and space for personal reflection. Walking with others offers encouragement and safety.  

In the journey of faith, there is room for walking solo and walking with others. Sometimes solitude is not a choice, but a reality imposed upon us by our circumstances. They both have lessons to teach and gifts to give. 

But, when we find ourselves struggling to hope, we need connection with others. The writer of today’s reading (Solomon) says ‘a threefold cord is not quickly broken’. Alone, we are like a single cord. Our fears can overwhelm us, the relentless stream of bad news can leave us downhearted. But reaching out to another, perhaps even sharing our struggle to hope, can help renew our strength. God can deepen our hope through the presence of others.

Challenge

Think of a time you faced personal challenges with the support of others. What difference did it make?

Week 3: Together
We are designed for community – to build one another up and to allow ourselves to be built up by others. In this way, God enables us to remain rooted in hope and to become a hopeful presence in our communities.

Cathrine Fungai Ngangira introduces this week’s theme for our Living Hope Lent reflections. 

Watch this week’s video.

 Prayer for the week

Bind us together, Lord, with cords that 
cannot be broken. Show us how we can 
grow in hope by joining with others. Help 
us, together, to become signs of hope in 
your world. Amen.What’s togetherness got to do with it?

Week 3: MondayReading

1 Corinthians 12.12, 20-26

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 

As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’, nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honourable we clothe with greater honour, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honour to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it.

Reflection 

Imagine you have the latest phone, but no Wi-Fi or working SIM card. You can’t make an urgent call because you are not connected. Similarly, a Christian cannot fully function disconnected from a Christian community. 

Paul uses the analogy of a human body where each member depends on others to thrive. We weren’t designed to live in isolation – God created us for togetherness. 

The writer Debie Thomas said, ‘we are meant to live lives of profound interdependence, growing into, around, and out of each other…’  

In a hurting world, it is easy to become despondent. Joining with others can help us stay rooted in hope. When we can’t find the words to pray, others can. When others are struggling, we can pray with and for them. We can remind one another of who God is and of the lasting hope he offers us. 

Challenge

What could your community do to nurture a spirit of togetherness?

All things new Week 2: Weekend

Reading Revelation 21.1-5 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’ And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’

Reflection  I was in Nigeria recently, spending time with people who had endured trauma I could barely imagine, all because they are Christians.  As I got to know them – got to hear about their stories and their faith – I learnt that our hope is in different things.  My hope is rooted in, and largely directed toward, what’s happening now. While their (much more sturdy) hope largely flows from the promise of what’s to come. Their hope is that one day, God will make all things right, he’ll make all things new. One day, there’ll be no pain, no death, no tears. I don’t dwell on that reality often enough – I don’t let it fuel my hope, I don’t let it pierce into the here and the now. But I should.

Challenge To end this third week of Lent, I have a really simple – and also not so simple – question to ask you. How does this over-arching, all-encompassing, all-involving, all-consuming promise affect the way you see today? Both globally and personally?

The unseen Week 2: FridayReading Romans 8.22-26 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. Reflection C. S. Lewis reminds us that ‘God’s presence is not the same as the feeling of God’s presence. He may be doing most for us when we think He is doing least.’  Sometimes we’ll be able to see, hear, feel or understand what God is up to. And sometimes – oftentimes – we won’t.  This is where we have no option but to trust and hope that, just as Lewis suggests, God is working even when we’re completely unaware of it, even when we can’t see any evidence of it, even when our circumstances seem to be telling a different story.  It’s in those times that we need to rely on the knowledge that all that we see is not all that there is and decide to wait with patience, hope and trust.  Challenge Let’s soak in C. S. Lewis’s encouragement and exercise some great and wild hope – asking for big things, big change, big shifts in circumstances.

Honest hope Week 2: ThursdayReading John 11.17-27 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’ Reflection I sense so much emotion in Martha’s words to Jesus.  Her brother has just died, and Jesus didn’t arrive in time to stop that happening – her words feel soaked in all of the regret, disappointment and anguish usually encapsulated in any ‘if only…’ statement.  And then, seemingly out of nowhere, comes a huge dollop of hope. She has faith that ‘even now’, even though her brother has been dead for at least four days, Jesus can turn things around. Here’s what that teaches me – hope can sit alongside feelings of despair, confusion and desperation. And, what’s more, you can take all of those feelings to God at the very same time. Hope doesn’t require you to pretend you’re not hurting. Brutal honesty with God is the sign of a fighting hope, not a fading one. ChallengeToday, why don’t we give radical honesty with God a try – what emotions are sitting alongside your hope, emotions you feel shouldn’t be there? Tell him.

The greatest promise Week 2: Wednesday

Reading Isaiah 9.6-7 For a child has been born for us,     a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders;     and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,     Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually,     and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom.     He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness     from this time onwards and for evermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Reflection  Jesus was promised. The arrival of the Son of God, who was there before the world was formed, was promised. Isn’t that wonderful?  God saw us flailing, hurting each other and ourselves in a thousand different ways, and he offered a solution. A costly solution. He sent his Son, his very self into the world – to love us up close, and to save us.  Such a promise was made, and such a promise was kept. Jesus’ arrival, his time on earth, his death and – ultimately – his resurrection, it’s the greatest promise that has ever been fulfilled. And that makes it a source of great hope, because our faith is in the God who made, and kept, that promise. He’s a God of his word, Jesus proves it.

Challenge Why not take a moment to think back to other promises you’ve seen God keep – whether personally or in the pages of the Bible. Use those stories, those fulfilled promises, to fuel your hope today.

Every type of day  Week 2: TuesdayReading Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd;   therefore can I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures   and leads me beside still waters. He shall refresh my soul   and guide me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,     I will fear no evil;   for you are with me;     your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You spread a table before me     in the presence of those who trouble me;   you have anointed my head with oil     and my cup shall be full. Surely goodness and loving mercy shall follow me     all the days of my life,   and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Reflection  Psalm 23 is bursting at the seams with promises; some of them obvious, some of them not so much.  Here’s one that tends to fly right under the radar – we will experience lots of types of days. Ups, downs, highs, lows, mountains, valleys. We’ll face it all. As this poem points out, some seasons of life will feel full of peace, tranquillity, and rest – akin to green pastures and still waters. While other times will feel more like a long dark valley.  But here’s the promise amidst it all, the one that not only holds this poem together, but our lives, too – God’s there. Always, unshakably there. He’s the here-with-us God, the near-to-us God, the never-budging-an-inch God. And that’s where our hope comes from. His presence, not our circumstances, is why we have hope.  Challenge What kind of season/week/day/hour are you in? Green pastures? Dark valleys? Somewhere in between? Take a promise from Psalm 23 (of God’s guidance, care, comfort, direction – they’re all in there!) and pray with it, trusting that God is true to his word and his promises.

Week 2: TrustingIn this second week of Lent, we’re going to think through how much trust it takes to have hope. How can we have hope, even when it’s tough? Even when we can’t make sense of what God is up to?  Belle Tindall introduces this week’s theme for our Living Hope Lent reflections.  Watch this week’s video.  Prayer for the week Lord, we thank you that you are worthy of our hope-filled trust. As we walk through this second week of Lent together,  may your word remind us of your character  and fuel our hope once more. Amen.

Uncomfortable hope Week 2: Monday

Reading Lamentations 3.22-26 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,     his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning;     great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul,     ‘therefore I will hope in him.’ The Lord is good to those who wait for him,     to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly     for the salvation of the Lord.

Reflection  In Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, there are a number of words that mean ‘hope’.  One such word is ‘qavah’, which has quite a peculiar translation. You know when you pull a rope or a cord of some kind, and you pull it with such force, it gets tighter and tighter, until it eventually snaps? Well, that tension, right before the snap, that’s qavah.   Interesting, isn’t it? According to Old Testament writers, hope can feel tense, uncomfortable even. This means, when things feel increasingly tense, that’s not hope diminishing, that’s actually hope building. This is a far cry from what we can so often assume hope should feel like: easy, light and fluffy.

Challenge Where, in your life and in our world, does hope feel particularly tense right now? Perhaps ask God to give you his perspective on it.

View in browserHonest with God Week 1: WeekendReading Psalm 13 How long will you forget me, O Lord; for ever?   How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I have anguish in my soul     and grief in my heart, day after day?   How long shall my enemy triumph over me? Look upon me and answer, O Lord my God;   lighten my eyes, lest I sleep in death; Lest my enemy say, ‘I have prevailed against him,’   and my foes rejoice that I have fallen. But I put my trust in your steadfast love;   my heart will rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord,   for he has dealt so bountifully with me.Reflection Lament involves bringing our raw, unfiltered emotions – our pains and struggles – before God. Yet how many of us truly understand how to lament? Psalm 13 provides a biblical example: David, feeling abandoned by God, boldly asks, ‘How long?’. But even in his pain, he holds onto the hope that God will answer. The healing may not have been immediate, but David’s attitude had changed. Lament creates a space where we confront our struggles, but also remain confident in God’s power to save. The theologian Emmanuel Katongole describes how lament gives voice to those experiencing profound grief, enabling them to reclaim agency and move forward. Learning to lament – to be completely honest with God – takes practice. But, when we discover that God welcomes us and wants to meet us exactly where we are, we find lasting hope. Challenge Think of a situation where you long for change. Can you express your honest feelings to God without tidying them up first? It might help to write them down or say them aloud.

Keep going Week 1: Friday

Reading Philippians 3.10-14 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Reflection  Tanzanian long-distance runner John Stephen Akhwari became famous for his incredible endurance at the 1968 Olympics.  During the race, he fell and injured his knee and shoulder, but despite the pain and the expectation that he would quit, he refused to give up. After receiving medical attention, he returned to the track and walked the remainder of the race, finishing over an hour after the winner. When asked why he continued, he simply said, ‘My country did not send me to start the race, but to finish the race’. This determination serves as a powerful reminder to keep putting one foot in front of the other, even in the face of adversity. We can ask for God’s help to persevere in spite of the obstacles. The Apostle Paul, despite facing many hardships, focused on the eternal reward awaiting those who finish the race of faith. So, if you’re feeling discouraged, remember, don’t quit – keep going!

Challenge Take time to read and reflect on the Lenten journey so far. Where have you seen God at work? Hold on to that as you continue the journey.

Perfectly imperfect Week 1: Thursday

ReadingRomans 7.15-19, 24-25 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.  Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.

Reflection In our reading, Paul opens up about his own inner battles, reaching a point where he honestly admits, ‘I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.’ He understood that being a Christian doesn’t prevent him struggling to do the right thing. Many of us face persistent weaknesses and habits we constantly fight against. Despite our best efforts, we often find ourselves back in the same place, leading to frustration and self-criticism. We can be too hard on ourselves. The more we try to save ourselves by our own strength and wisdom, the more hopeless our situation becomes. Paul came to realize that perfection is not the goal. He does not have to be flawless, because Jesus Christ is perfect, and God can work through our imperfections. The point is to bring everything to our loving God.

Challenge What do you do when you are frustrated with weaknesses? How can these weaknesses be spaces where you encounter God?

Mercy transforms Week 1: Wednesday

Reading John 8.3-11 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’

Reflection  We live in a judgmental society, quick to cancel people, surrounded by disorder, conflict, and suffering.  In such an imperfect world, where people can be hurtful, systems can fail, and life feels overwhelming, mercy becomes a crucial and transformative response. We find hope knowing that all things are held by our merciful God.  Jesus’ response to the woman caught in adultery reflects his mercy and challenges us not to judge others. He forgives her and calls her to a new life, free from sin and shame. God’s love and forgiveness are free gifts – and in gratitude, we are called to extend the same mercy to others. We are challenged to show mercy not out of obligation, but because we have already received it. We do not offer mercy from an empty place, but from the abundance of grace God has given us.

Challenge In what situations is it hardest to be merciful? Perhaps on social media, with politicians or other drivers on the road! What might a merciful response look like in the situations that come to mind?

Beauty in brokenness Week 1: TuesdayReadingPsalm 147.1-7     How good it is to make music for our God,   how joyful to honour him with praise. The Lord builds up Jerusalem   and gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted   and binds up all their wounds. He counts the number of the stars   and calls them all by their names. Great is our Lord and mighty in power;   his wisdom is beyond all telling. The Lord lifts up the poor,   but casts down the wicked to the ground. Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;   make music to our God upon the lyre; Reflection  In a church in Graveney, there is a cross. Not very remarkable, you might think, but this is a cross made from 121 rusty nails.  Taken from a 14th-century door, the nails were set into Perspex to form a cross. What was apparently broken and useless became something beautiful and meaningful. In the Bible, brokenness represents both the flaws caused by sin and the wounds from life’s trials. Stories of brokenness are found in Adam and Eve, Tamar, Ruth, David and Bathsheba, the Samaritan woman, and the apostles Peter and Paul. All experienced brokenness. Yet, in each case, God brought beauty and restoration. In Psalm 147, the psalmist praises a God who heals the broken-hearted, binds their wounds, and lifts the humble. God continues to forgive, heal, and restore those who trust in him. In Jesus, we again encounter the God who mends brokenness, forgives the repentant, and offers healing.  Challenge When you hear the word ‘broken’, what comes to mind? Can you bring your thoughts to God and ask how he might make the broken into something beautiful?

Week 1: ImperfectOur lives are complex and we live in an imperfect world. Our daily frustrations and limitations are no surprise to God and he can fill us with hope through these very situations. Cathrine Fungai Ngangira introduces this week’s theme for our Living Hope Lent reflections.  Watch this week’s video.  Prayer for the weekLord Jesus, in the complexity and frustration of life it can be hard to stay hopeful. Thank you that nothing is hidden from you.  Show me how you are at work even in the imperfections of everyday life.  Amen.

When everything goes wrong Week 1: Monday

Reading Jonah 2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, ‘I called to the Lord out of my distress,     and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried,     and you heard my voice. You cast me into the deep,     into the heart of the seas,     and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows     passed over me. Then I said, “I am driven away     from your sight; how shall I look again     upon your holy temple?” The waters closed in over me;     the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped around my head     at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land     whose bars closed upon me for ever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit,     O Lord my God. As my life was ebbing away,     I remembered the Lord; and my prayer came to you,     into your holy temple. Those who worship vain idols     forsake their true loyalty. But I with the voice of thanksgiving     will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay.     Deliverance belongs to the Lord!’ Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.

Reflection  God works through imperfect people to bring hope to broken and troubled communities. The Bible is full of such stories: from Jacob the deceiver to Paul the persecutor. Jonah’s story is one of personal struggle and divine mercy. First, Jonah tried to run away from God’s assignment to preach to the people of Nineveh by fleeing to Tarshish. After being swallowed by a great fish and spending three days in its belly, Jonah prayed to God. The fish took him to Nineveh where he delivered God’s message. Despite his flaws and reluctance, God worked through Jonah to bring salvation to the people of Nineveh. It reminds us that even in times of struggle and hopelessness, God can meet us and transform our circumstances. Sometimes the places where hope seems lost are the very places we find hope. God is always at work, even in the most imperfect people and situations.

Challenge Where is your place or situation of struggle and hopelessness? How might you make it a place where you can meet with God and find hope?

The journey ahead Start of Lent – Weekend

Reading Romans 5.1-8 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

Reflection  The hymn Christian, Seek Not Yet Repose has been a spiritual anchor for the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe during challenging times.  The third verse urges us to gird ourselves with heavenly armour, both day and night. The fourth verse calls us to listen to the cheering voices of those who have overcome. It is a song encouraging us to be persistent and remain vigilant in prayer and faith. Paul reminds us that endurance produces character, and character produces hope. As we embark on this journey, we are called to ‘suit up’ and invite the Holy Spirit to guide us. This year our Lenten journey is an invitation to explore hope. It is an uncertain path. Not every day will be the same, it will not always be easy.  But even through the wilderness, we can encounter God. Though the road may be difficult, you will not regret embarking on this transformative journey.

Challenge What things are you having to ‘endure’ at the moment? Can you see ways in which this experience is helping you grow, amidst all the difficulties?

Living in hope Start of Lent – FridayReading Acts 2.22-32 ‘You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says concerning him, “I saw the Lord always before me,     for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;     moreover, my flesh will live in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,     or let your Holy One experience corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life;     you will make me full of gladness with your presence.” ‘Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, “He was not abandoned to Hades,     nor did his flesh experience corruption.” This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.Reflection  Peter’s first sermon on Pentecost highlighted the resurrection of Christ, quoting the words of David, a king of Israel in the Old Testament. Although David was still in the tomb, the one he spoke of was alive. David, speaking by faith, rested in hope, anticipating the fulfilment of God’s promise.  We, like David, can live in hope – not just in death, but also in life. Living in hope means having confidence in God’s promises, knowing they will be fulfilled. Even when our hopes are shattered – by the death of a loved one, a negative medical report, or disappointing circumstances – we stand firm in God’s promises.  Archbishop Rowan Williams once described hope as not merely a confidence in the future but trust in a continuous reality – one where the past, present, and future are grounded in God’s truth. Because God’s promises are fulfilled both now and in the future, we live in the land of hope. Challenge When the future you hope for feels a long way away, what helps you keep going? Could you make a list of the things that help you stay hopeful and thank God for them?

A living hope Start of Lent – ThursdayReading Job 19.23-27 ‘O that my words were written down!     O that they were inscribed in a book! O that with an iron pen and with lead     they were engraved on a rock for ever! For I know that my Redeemer lives,     and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed,     then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side,     and my eyes shall behold, and not another.     My heart faints within me! Reflection  Given Job’s apparent hopelessness in yesterday’s reading, how was he able to proclaim ‘my Redeemer lives’? And to whom exactly was he referring?  The Old Testament idea of a ‘redeemer’ referred to someone with the potential to buy a slave’s way to freedom or care for a widow. Was Job hoping for a human redeemer? It’s possible that, since resurrection is scarcely mentioned in the Old Testament, Job did not fully understand the concept of the resurrection. Yet he knew the living God, and by faith, Job proclaimed: my Redeemer lives.  As Christians, we live in the light of the resurrection of Christ. Not only do we know the dead will rise again. We also know Jesus Christ is our living hope. Because he lives, we look forward to the resurrection and restoration of all creation. Challenge Reflect on a time when you had to stay hopeful despite difficult circumstances. If you were to face another situation like that, what might you say to encourage yourself?

‘Can the dead live again?’ Start of Lent – Ash Wednesday

Reading Job 14.7-14 ‘For there is hope for a tree,     if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,     and that its shoots will not cease. Though its root grows old in the earth,     and its stump dies in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud     and put forth branches like a young plant. But mortals die, and are laid low;     humans expire, and where are they? As waters fail from a lake,     and a river wastes away and dries up, so mortals lie down and do not rise again;     until the heavens are no more, they will not awake     or be roused out of their sleep. O that you would hide me in Sheol,     that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,     that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If mortals die, will they live again?     All the days of my service I would wait     until my release should come.

Reflection  Ash Wednesday reminds us of the fragility and brevity human life. The day invites us to confront the reality of death. In the book of Job, the suffering man compares his life to a tree. He feels like there is more hope of renewal for trees than for human beings! He wonders about what happens to the dead. What happens when we die is a question we often avoid. We’re more comfortable talking about the hope of a reunion in heaven but hesitant to explore what that truly means. Perhaps Ash Wednesday is not just about receiving the sign of the cross, but also about engaging with the difficult questions about death and beyond. Maybe we can allow ourselves to ask these big questions about where our hope comes from. We can bring these questions to God, asking him to lead us into deeper hope this Lent.

Challenges there a trusted person you could explore these big questions with? Perhaps a friend, minister or family member?