Today';s reflection is from our Associate Vicar, the Rev'd Devin McLachlan
You might, like me, be someone fond of cold days — or like my daughter, enamoured of rainy weather. Others look
at us with confusion or even pity, but we know the beauty that can be found on such days, even while others are pining for Majorca.
I love the season of Lent. I love its bracing purity, its focus on God, and its gentle simplicity. A night sky in a desert, bejewelled with stars, the silence embracing, and the emptiness full of the Spirit. I couldn't bear Lent for more than a few weeks, but I love when it comes 'round. This year our Lenten theme is Restore. Reflect. Refresh. Our Sunday worship echos this theme, suggested by Ed Cearns. We are restored to Christ in the opening confession and prayer; we reflect together on God's word; and we are refreshed by the sacrament. That rhythm echoes throughout these 40 days of Lent. Lent is not a time for heroic Pelagian acts of penance. Lent is a time to be restored by grace into the loving embrace of God. Lent is a time to reflect — self-examination, as the Invitation to Lent puts it, but also the reflection of a spring arising in a desert. Lent isn't a time to gaze at our navels, in other words, but to better reflect the love of God — sometimes by clearing out all that which clutters and obscures that reflection. And Lent is a time for refreshment. "I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water," God sings in Isaiah 41.18. As David invited us in last week's eMag, focus on those things that will enable you – and those around you – to grow and flourish in your walk with God. It doesn't have to be a big thing; it can be quite small but you will know it by how it refreshes your soul. A gentle Lent, a quiet rainy day, a cool spring in the desert. Restore. Reflect. Refresh.
Devin