Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Here we are, at the commencement of Lent once again. The word Lent comes from the Old English word for spring, lencten, meaning the season of lengthening days. In the northern hemisphere, where the Church Year originates, days are lengthening; it is Spring time.
Here, in Aotearoa, the southern hemisphere, Lent coincides with the season of Autumn. However, the arrangement of an Autumn Lent can also work very well. In this season, nature concentrates her energies on the one thing necessary that life may be renewed when the globe turns once more towards the sun. Gardeners do their essential tidying and preparation, and plant their bulbs, hoping for new life in the future.
Lent like Autumn is the season of fulfilment and harvest, time of the falling off of things and their death. It is a time of transition and renewal. Just as in Autumn the world is slowly dying, so in Lent we contemplate the dryness and death that stalks our spirituality, contrasting the harvest of God’s blessings with our often dry and barren spirits.
The danger of Lent is that it tends to be the church’s busiest time as we add extra services and study on top of our full parish programme (I am really speaking to myself!)
May this season draw you closer to the heart of Christ.
May God renew your spirit strengthen you with hope, and fill your days with peace.
Yukiko
