Lent reflections: Sustaining Hope 

Lent is a time of contemplation and reflection, of self-examination and repentance, of choosing the disciplines of denial and generosity toward others. This year Lent is marked by the particular grief and pain which comes with the awareness of what humans can do to other humans in the name of justice: the devastating and unjust war in Ukraine.

Every morning, during the season of Lent as we journey towards Easter, we pray this prayer as part of Daily Prayer, Morning Prayer:

Blessed are you, God of compassion and mercy,

to you be praise and glory for ever.

In the darkness of our sin,

your light breaks forth like the dawn

and your healing springs up for deliverance.

As we rejoice in the gift of your saving help,

sustain us with your bountiful Spirit

and open our lips to sing your praise.

Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Blessed be God for ever.

Here we reflect on the contrast between the darkness of our sin, and the light of our Lord, breaking forth like the dawn, bringing healing and deliverance. But the prayer also asks that God would give us the gift of saving help and would sustain us by his bountiful Spirit.

I don’t know about you, but I think we all need God’s sustaining presence in our lives, as we face news of pestilence - Covid is not yet over - war and an ever increasing cost of living.

Yesterday, as part of Bishop Guli’s ‘Holy Sabbatical’ which she has urged all christians and churches in the Chelmsford Diocese to focus on this Lent, I took part in a webinar with Bishop Guli and Kintsugi Hope co-founder and CEO, Patrick Regan OBE. Patrick encouraged us to recognise that all of us, in our brokenness, can find hope. Just as the seams of golden glue join together broken pottery in the Japanese art of Kintsugi, so the healing and compassionate presence of Christ in our lives by the Holy Spirit, can make something uniquely beautiful out of times of pain and sickness and brokenness.

Patrick went on to talk about ways in which we can build resilience through being Courageous in our vulnerability - being honest about how we are - as well as three more Cs: Compassion towards ourselves and others; Curiosity, and Connection. We need to come together to be energised, enlivened, seen, heard and valued.

If you want to know more about building resilience and ‘Discovering Treasure in Life’s Scars’, Kintsugi Hope might be worth exploring: https://kintsugihope.com/. And if anyone would like to travel together on this Lenten journey of hope in the midst of a painful time, do consider joining us for or Lent book club where we are discussing Isabelle Hamley’s Lent book, ‘Embracing Justice’, or come to our meditations on the Stations of the Cross, both on Friday’s during Lent.

My prayer for this week, for you, for me and for our broken world:

Come, creator Spirit, source of life;

sustain us when our hearts are heavy

and our wells have run dry,

for you are the Father’s gift,

with him who is our living water,

Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen