Wednesday 13 February 2008

Lent 2

The third in the series:
Lent 2

After last week's snippet, it occurs to me that perhaps next year I should give up meetings for Lent.

It seems that in the Christian and Secular spheres, we often have people setting up meetings for the sake of it.  We have meetings to discuss ideas, meetings to discuss meetings; we even have meetings to ensure that the meetings remain in our diaries.  Sometimes, we have that most blessed of all – the duplicate meeting.

Meetings appease our conscience – they make us look busy, give us a sense of accomplishment and can help us gather others around us to make decisions we don't want to accept sole responsibility for.  Meetings can be hugely beneficial, and often are, but sometimes I do wonder how many of them are needless duplication.

The trend exists in the Church (with a capital 'C'!), but it does have to be said that the trend exists outside the Church, too.  In other organisations and institutions, we sometimes see the infamous 'Update' meeting creeping into our diaries.

I wonder whether the purpose of many of our meetings is clear to us, or whether it is to enable us or others to feel busy.

We do like to be busy and to look busy – in our faith and in our careers.  It gives us something to measure, some way to validate how we spend our time.  I wonder how much time we clear in our lives to enable us to reflect and be silent.  That's not as easy to measure or to feel good about, but arguably much more beneficial.

Perhaps that's a second challenge this Lent, or for a future Lent … Can we allow ourselves some space to reflect on our faith, our families or our careers? Or is that me trying to give the time a purpose again?  Can we simply allow ourselves some time without anything to do?

Can we allow ourselves to not schedule a meeting, but merely spend time alone or with others, for their- or our sake?  Rather than investing in our timetables, can we allow ourselves to invest in ourselves and our relationships – whether they are work or personal?

Lent 1

The second in the Sunday newsletter inserts for February:
Lent 1

In 1993 I was doing a year of missionary youth work in the Northern and North Eastern areas of the old Transvaal province in South Africa – now the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces.  There was a group of 6 of us from all over the country and we stayed in a house which doubled as the Diocesan Offices.  The Diocesan Treasurer had a 1-bedroomed flat in the back garden and occasionally shared mealtimes with us.

During Lent that year, we asked the Diocesan Treasurer what he was going to be giving up for Lent, and he responded that he was giving up Church!  We all thought he was joking – until he never arrived for the first Sunday in Lent … or the Second, or the third, or any services in Lent.  True to his word – he only came back to church on Easter Sunday.  We initially thought it rather strange, but at the end of Lent, we saw a changed man.  From Easter, that Diocesan Treasurer found that – rather than dragging himself out of bed and grudgingly sitting in Church – he loved going – Lent had both transformed him and transformed his experience and understanding of his faith.

I realised then that Lent was about more than just giving up something … it's an opportunity to spend time looking within ourselves, at what makes us tick, and identifying the areas where we can make positive changes.

I'm not suggesting that we should all give up church for Lent.  But for that Diocesan Treasurer in 1993, Lent was an opportunity to evaluate what his faith meant for him.

The challenge for us this Lent is not to think about what we can give up, but to find out how we can make Lent a time for positive change for each of us, and perhaps for us as a community.

February Newsletters

I've been asked to do a bunch of letters for the parish newsletter for February, and I thought I'd stick them here as well.  Should be fairly safe, as no one reads this. ;o)
Here's the first, written for the first Sunday in February:
3 February

It's the end of January and already the year seems off to a rather shaky start.  I hear from colleagues at the university, friends and family about personal and, sometimes, tragic losses experienced in the post-Christmas period.  Students are struggling with post-Christmas homesickness, dwindling student loans, assignment deadlines and exams.  Then there are the news headlines, about a potential recession, not to mention 'wars and rumours of wars'.

A recent article in the Guardian mentioned that Thursday last week (January 24) was apparently the most depressing day of the year. This was calculated by Cliff Arnall of Cardiff University, using an elaborate scientific formula.

So if you're feeling a little off-colour after Christmas, it's nice to know that at least it's perfectly natural, so we don't have to add guilt to all of the above.

But what can we do about it?  It's good to remind ourselves about what we do have … homes, families, friends, food, life.  Look for the signs of spring and new life … the earlier sunrises and later sunsets, the flowers in the lawn, the buds on the trees.  Find and encourage the positive in others, especially our nearest and dearest … say something positive, do something for them, pamper each other a little, book a meal out or cook a meal in, watch a film together, enjoy a lazy cup of coffee together in the afternoon sun or perhaps plan a day out together.

And, remember, too, in the words of our Psalm this Sunday "The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory" … our God is loving, welcoming, unchanging, victorious, accessible, forgiving and eternal.