Preparing for Lent & B2B

We are made to pray. We are created to be in relationship with God.

We often think of our lives as a progression in our career. So, before we start our

career, we study for it. Then we start our jobs. We think of promotions, higher

salaries or financial gain. Linked to this is prestige. It also involves having a sense

of meaning that comes from being respected by others. Additionally, there is the sense of usefulness to the church or society.

Adam was given the charge to work and till the ground - that, we know is our

essential roles as humans. But even before that, they were in communion with

God in the garden. They were talking with Him. Praying! And when we fast

forward to the eternal future, we have scenes of worship, as we can see in the

Book of Revelation.

When the music fades and all is stripped away, we will come back to the heart of

worship. In the ancient church, some fathers viewed the Christian life as a

progression in prayer. They saw it as a pursuit of communion with God. Origen,

for example, advocates a life of asceticism and spiritual discipline. This includes

study of scripture and prayer. These practices aim to reach a higher level of

spiritual maturity.

Everything one day will cease and be empty, except for our relationship with God.

In thinking of “Back to Basics”, this is something we want to return to this year:

our relationship with God. The Breakthrough Retreat (BTR) will start a B2B

Discipleship process which will go on till November (with a break in June). We will

be sharing in small groups, and building an authentic experience of community. We

will encourage each other to study the Scriptures and to pray on a daily basis.

If all these sound rather monastic, yes it is! And I trust it is in a good and needed way. Unless we make time to be with each other, it is hard to build community. Unless we share space, i.e. we are physically present in each other’s lives in the same social and physical space, our community life is shallow. It will lack depth and genuine connection.

As the season of Lent begins this Wednesday, we can take a first step by taking

our daily time with the Lord seriously. Ps Mark Parker has challenged us on this

last Sunday. To this end, a team have worked on a daily devotion in both text

and audio. It effectively uses the materials in our Morning Office. This makes it

suitable and accessible for all of us, including new Christians.

Most of the audios are between 6 to 8 minutes. They can help you to template

for a longer devotional time if you wish. Simply press the pause button to pray

or read deeper. Creating and recording these daily devotionals is hard work. The

team knows that this can be a blessing to many. And we are also blessed in

reading and praying through the Scriptures ourselves.

To help us to get into the season of Lent, there will be an Ash Wednesday

Service at 8 pm at St Hilda’s Church. Do join us!