Pray for Sunday’s event in Bethnal Green – Silence: The Contemplative Way.  This is one of a number of ways in which the Contextual Theology Centre helps churches to root social action in Christian doctrine and spirituality.  Pray for this wider work – that for all Christians, social action may flow from the heart of their relationship with Jesus their Lord.

Pray for the Education Achievement Academy, a project the Church Urban Fund is supporting in Leeds.  The Academy provides adult literacy classes for reluctant learners, recruiting from homelessness projects, refugee centres and the probation service.

Please pray for Ascension Community Trust – a project the Church Urban Fund is supporting in London.

The Trust provides local services to cover the gaps in mainstream provision particularly for the young, the elderly and those hard to reach. Following a survey of needs in May 2011, they plan to run constructive activities for young people, based in their Community Garden Cafe. The activites include a film club and discussion group, anger management mentoring, a homework club and guitar lessons. These activities will help young people to develop skills and play an active role in the community.

Pray also for the Shoreditch Group – a project of the Contextual Theology Centre which aims to

• contribute to the social transformation of Shoreditch, and in particular the reduction of child poverty
• demonstrate and build up the capacity of churches as agents of social transformation
• engage churches with a broader cross-section of Shoreditch residents – in particular young people (14-20) experiencing economic and social exclusion and young urban professionals (20-35) with a concern for social justice (both of these being groups the church usually struggles to reach)

Last Lent, the Contextual Theology Centre and Church Urban Fund launched Call to Change – with a daily blog of prayer requests for our work in some of England’s poorest neighbourhoods.  This year, we’ve built on that partnership, by working together on two Lent courses: Blinded? and Seeing Change (a version of the second course is available for use at other times of year) – and we will be blogging each day on projects to pray for.

A reflection on the Ash Wednesday Gospel is already on our blog (and we warmly commend this excellent post by Sr Catherine Wybourne (@digitalnun).

Today, pray for all Christians beginning their Lenten observance, and in particular for those participating in the courses mentioned above.

Many Christians, have imagined Lent to be about placating or impressing God – winning a better seat in heaven, by fleeing the corruption of sinful human life. But in Christ we see a love that needs no placating. His is a love that persists even as we do our very worst to him.

God’s answer to human sin is not to demand retribution. Instead, in Christ he takes upon himself all the violence, all the retribution, that the world can offer. He does not stand over us; rather he shows the depth of his love by standing among us. In Christ, we find God’s presence most of all with those our world isolates and scapegoats. The purpose of Lent is to clear away the clutter – our pride, our sin, our desire to blame and scapegoat others – so that we might recognize God’s presence, and allow his grace to refine and to renew us.

The Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday is Matthew 6.1-6, 16-18 (or 6.1-6, 16-21)

Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

The Gospel reading for the first Sunday of Lent is Luke 4.1-13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.

Pride seems like the hardest sin to root out. The moment you think you’ve conquered your pride…and you begin to feel smug about it…that’s when you’re proudest of all.

The sin of pride comes when we rely on our own power, and see the world only in terms of our importance and achievements. Pride stops us seeing other human beings as equals. They become our rivals.

The temptation to pride often comes when our relationship with God seems to be going well. We congratulate ourselves on our success, rather than giving glory to God.

It’s at the point when Jesus is ‘full of the Holy Spirit’ that we read of the devil tempting him .  The temptation is for Jesus to use his power to impress and dominate the crowds.

Jesus recognises and rejects this temptation because he is rooted in prayer.  Because he is focused on the things that really do matter, he can identify and reject the temptations of pride and self-seeking.

As the forty days in the wilderness helped Jesus to clarify and refine his calling, so in these forty days of Lent we can be refined: so that our pride does not crowd out the love and grace with which God longs to fill us.

Resources for  prayer this Lent

The Contextual Theology Centre is organising a Quiet Afternoon on Silence: The Contemplative Way to help Christians deepen their prayer lives this Lent.  Details are on our events page.

The Centre and the Church Urban Fund have also developed a Lent course called Seeing Change which includes practical action for social justice – and roots it in prayer and Bible study.  You can download it here.

This Sunday is the Sunday next before Lent – and the Church of England lectionary gives us the story of Jesus’  Transfiguration (Luke 9.28-36) to inform our preparations for this penitential season.  The lectionary followed by Roman Catholic churches is different – continuing to read through the Gospel of Luke, and reading the Transfiguration story on the Second Sunday of Lent.

There is something very fitting about reading the story of the Transfiguration as we prepare for Lent (or in its early stages).  To the disciples – and to us each Lent – it is a glimpse of the destination as we prepare to walk the way of the cross.

So what does the Transfiguration tell us about the direction of the Christian pilgrimage.  And what light does this cast on how we might best spend Lent?

– First, and most obviously, it is about the glory of Jesus Christ.  Like his Baptism, the Transfiguration is a statement of whom Jesus is – and therefore shows him to be the one on whom our hearts and our sights must focus:

“from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’ When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.”

– Secondly, the Transfiguration is about the destiny of the whole creation.  This is a point stressed by Orthodox theologians in particular: in the glorification of the earthly Jesus, we see a foretaste of a creation transfigured by God’s glory.  This is something we see, in a different way, at every celebration of the Eucharist.  As bread and wine become for us the body of Christ, we see the vocation of each Christian, and indeed of the whole created order – to show forth the glory of God.

What does that mean in practice?  It involves a recognition that we are stewards not consumers of the world God has given us: which in turn implies a care for, and delight in, the physical environment, and a commitment to sharing its fruits in a way that enables all to experience God’s generosity, compassion and justice.

– Thirdly, the Transfiguration speaks of the indivisibility of prayer and action  in the Christian life.  Jesus’ glory is revealed as he prays: as his attention is focused on his heavenly Father.  It is the fruit of contemplation – but this contemplation moves us to action.  Moses and Elijah speak of the cross (” his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem”) and Jesus’ rejects the temptation to remain in the safety and tranquility of the mountain-top vision.  For disciples of Jesus Christ, prayer and practice are inextricably linked. 

Prayer Intentions

Pray for your own church and for its Lent programme, and for God’s guidance on your own journey through this holy season.  Pray that it may be rooted in prayer, and bear fruit in a clearer vision of who Jesus Christ is; better stewardship of the world he has given us, and a deeper attention to his presence in all people.

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Candlemas .  The Gospel reading (Luke 2.22-40) recounts Jesus’ presentation in the temple, forty days after his birth. Simeon and Anna have been watching and waiting in the temple, it having been revealed to Simeon that ‘he would not see death before he saw the Lord’s Messiah’.  As Mary and Joseph present Jesus in the temple, Simeon takes him in his arms and recites a prayer used in countless churches every evening down the centuries which have followed (at Evensong or Night Prayer):

Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.

Simeon then goes on to warn Mary:

This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.

Candlemas is a sort of ‘hinge’  in the Christian year – as we turn from the cycle of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany (focusing on the birth of Christ, and his light dawning upon a broken world) towards the cycle of Lent, Easter and Pentecost (focusing on the cross and resurrection – and the birth of the Church as an ongoing witness to that saving work).  Simeon’s prophecy looks back and forward – hailing the Christ-child as a ‘light for revelation’ and warning Mary that he will grow up to be ‘a sign that will be opposed’.

The prayers in Common Worship reflect this:

Father, here we bring to an end our celebration
of the Saviour’s birth.
Help us, in whom he has been born,
to live his life that has no end.
Here we have rejoiced with faithful Simeon and Anna.
Help us, who have found the Lord in his temple,
to trust in your eternal promises.
Here we turn from Christ’s birth to his passion.
Help us, for whom Lent is near,
to enter deeply into the Easter mystery.

As we read the Candlemas Gospel, we find a great richness of themes to reflect upon – themes which are not simply of theoretical interest, but which should shape our life as Christ’s Body today. These include…

– The remarkable way in which wisdom and patience of old age (embodied in Simeon and Anna) encounters the potential of new life – How do we celebrate all ages, and their contributions to the Body of Christ in the life of our local churches?  

– The central place of waiting in the life of Christian discipleship – What is the place in our church’s life for silence and stillness – not as an escape from life, but as an essential precondition of faithful and courageous action?

…The combination in the Christian life of delight and of sacrifice  How do we combine the joyful celebration of the light of Christ with a recognition of the swords that continue to pierce the disciple’s heart?

Prayer Intentions

Pray for all Christians planning their individual and corporate observance of Lent – that it may include space the genuine, attentive waiting on God which we see in Simeon and Anna.  Pray for all who will take part in the Contextual Theology Centre’s Lenten Quiet Afternoon on the theme of silence.