Life is always a balancing act with its mixture of daily routines and daily challenges, much of it based on our unconscious beliefs and on what we’ve always done.
Having celebrated Jesus’ birth and the coming of the Magi, we are entering Lent. Although each liturgical season offers us opportunities for prayer and reflection, Lent is particularly associated with these aspects of our spiritual life. Looking at ourselves in the light of Jesus’ experiences and his teachings.
Jesus didn’t found a church. Although he was not keen on the behaviours of those leading the Jewish faith, he was fully conversant with the pattern of Jewish beliefs and liturgy. He remained a Jew, albeit outside the mainstream. He didn’t create an organisation with a set pattern of beliefs.
So what has that got to do with us and Lent? Once churches came into being, understandably they had to have structure to survive and coherence in their beliefs and behaviours – Paul’s letters often reflect that. And those beliefs got added to amended and passed on down the years and the centuries. But how do we feel about some of them now? That’s the subject of our Lent Prayer Breakfasts.
I have a postcard that says, “Ditch the dogma and live the life.” It may be a bit radical, but I’d like to think that we will thoughtfully and sensitively examine and explore what we believe and what living the life of a Christian means for each of us.
Chris Dawson