COMING ALIVE:

A DAILY LIVING LENT REFLECTION

In humble personal meditation, Deji here reflects upon the power of living the Lent and passion of Christ. This is a booklet to which the reader will turn again and again both during the season of Lent and throughout the year. To Come Alive is narrative at the heart of Christianity from the beginning. It is about a changed life, being made alive to God, the stirring of the physical and spiritual self and coming alive in Jesus (1 Cor 15:12-23).

The truth of God is the Word of God, as the Word of God is the truth of God. God is essentially invisible but His Word is generously creative, prophetic and indestructible (Ps 19, Ezek 37, 1 Tim 6:16) l pray for someone, God’s Word will come alive in your situation in Jesus name. Receive the grace to desire the pure milk of the Word of God.

The startling distinctiveness of the Cross is not just a palliative, a harmless symbol, a pious decoration. According to Bishop Barron, Apostle Paul’s exaltation of the Cross is a sort of taunt to Rome and all of its brutal descendants down through the ages (1 Cor 1:18-25; 2:1-3): “You think that scares us? God has conquered that!” As Christians, when we boldly hold up the Cross, an image of the humiliated, tortured Jesus to the world. We are saying, “We are not afraid.”

In preparation for the Lent, I pray for someone, every bondage of fear, humiliation and torture over your destiny and joy are broken and cancelled in Jesus name.

ASH WEDNESDAY REFLECTION: RECLAIMING WHAT LENT IS ALL ABOUT: Worthy is the Lamb: Halleluyah! Lent, an important time of the year begins today with Ash Wednesday until we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Lent, a gentle reminder of repentance and renewal, helps us look unto Jesus, as the Author and Finisher of our faith. To the consumer world, the big feast is Christmas, while for Christians the truly great feast is Easter because without Easter, without the Resurrection, we would not have the gift of salvation. There are some misguided theology that could make Lent to become a burden rather than a blessing, a tool to make us more Christ-like. Many of us have mixed feelings about Lent. However, Lent is more than a way of gaining God’s favour. It is a means of repenting of our sin and consecrating ourselves to God.

The questions are, have you lost sight of what Lent is all about? For how many years have you been practising Lent, as a spiritual renewal or just dependent on giving up something obvious? There is nothing wrong in giving up something you love temporarily, but true Lent is a time to repent of sin and walk closer with God. According to John Henry Sammis in his hymn, to walk with God is to walk ‘in the light of His word.’ It is to ‘do His good will’ by giving up anger, worry, fear, gossip and other works of the flesh. These makes spiritual sense in obedience and trust in the Lord. Lent is a time to conquer a lifetime of unadmitted addictions, sin, deep-seated anger towards others or oneself, unforgiveness, pride, and fear that had plagued us and hinders our Christ-likeness. Many want to please others that they can never say no to anything. Lent provides a perfect time to evaluate our weak areas, our relationship with God and with others, and to discover what we truly need.

Lent as a prophetic liturgy is a time to consider the biggest hindrance in our life, church, home, and nation in order to discover our Christ-like true identity. Lent is a time to take our issues before God and look up any Scriptures we could find that address the subject. What does God say about this issue? Then pray over those passages and ask God to give you insight into what’s really going on in your heart and mind. What would it look like to give up this issue for 40 days? According to Johannah Reardon, ‘when we give up chocolate for Lent, it’s fairly simple to know how to give it up, but when we give up a character quality, it can be much more difficult.’ For example, if you’ve determined to give up anger because it’s been a lifelong problem, you’ll need the Holy Spirit’s help. Write down the passages of Scripture you looked up on anger and keep them handy so you can read them repeatedly over the course of the 40 days. What you do over 40 days with the help of the Holy Spirit could become your life time habit. You will find out that what you are gaining is more than what you are giving up because you are doing it to experience the power and joy of Resurrection personally. HAPPY RENEWING LENTEN SEASON.

LENT DAY 2: Lent is a call to self-denial as the only road to perfect liberty and joy in Christ. O Lord help me not to be slave to my own desires through obsession by self-interest and self-love (2 Tim 3:2-9). Light of the world, shine on my darkness in Jesus name.

LENT DAY 3: A RITUAL OR RENEWAL? 
Lent is more than an annual repeat of ‘dust thou art’ ritual of ‘ashes to ashes’ with appearance of spiritual activity without effect on souls. Lent comes as a renewal of ashes to fire of Pentecost; a pilgrimage, ashes – humble adventure towards the cross, towards a tomb, and ‘the mysterious, unending joy of those who found … tomb empty.’ Until John Wesley had the fire experience, he was more or less performing ritual obligations. However, his warmed heart experience helps us to know in truth the spiritual meaning of power and purity, of a heart filled to capacity with the burning love of God. Remember, Lent becomes a ritual when we celebrate the end of Lent by doing everything we pretend to give up for Lent. Please pray for the sick.

LENT DAY 4: THE CROSS OR THE CROWD: To live Lent is to follow the Cross and leave the crowd; crowd that shout one day, ‘Hosanna, and crucify Him,’ the next. You cannot follow the Cross and follow the crowd and you cannot follow the crowd and follow the Cross. What about the seen and unseen crowd in us, the ‘unseen crowd’ like in Peter who denied Jesus three times when he faced the crowd? What are you following, the Cross or the crowd?

LENT DAY 5: LENT & VALENTINE DAY REFLECTION: Valentine’s Lent: What has the juxtaposition of the start of Lent and Valentine Day got to do with the days of moral free falls? Theodore Roosevelt said, ‘to educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.’ Moral decline begins when transcendent moral values, which have proven to be beneficial over time, are discarded in preference to various ideas which man finds more conducive to achieving our sin-tainted human nature – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 Jn 2:16).

According to a Catholic legend, St Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. One of Valentine’s favourite duties as a priest was to marry people according to God’s command. The reflection is that sometimes it is dangerous to stand up against injustice, hatred, and prejudice. Sometimes it is difficult to oppose the world’s view of things. Sometimes it’s difficult to proclaim the truth of God’s Love, and that is what St. Valentine did! It is not always easy to stand for Jesus. It was not easy for Valentine. One night, Valentine did hear footsteps at his door. The couple he was marrying escaped, but he was caught. Valentine paid for what he want for what his loved one wanted (marriage). On the day Valentine was to die, he left a note for one of the young people that visited him, thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. He signed it, “Love from your Valentine.” That note started the custom of exchanging love notes on Valentine’s Day. It was written on the day he died, February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people remember St Valentine who gave up his head for the Truth, for the Cross, for the Lent and not just his palm branches. True Valentine is not just a lavish demonstration of earthly affection for one another with cards, candy, flowers and dinner invitation. Flowers will die. Candy gets eaten. Balloons will pop. Stuffed animals may stop singing. Cards may get lost or thrown away (Is 54:10).

Lent and Valentine Day has to do with the state of our hearts. Just as Valentine Day can be used as an act of crass consumerism and absurdity of romantic love, Lent too can be used as a superficial devotion or a self-righteous legalism. Lent and Valentine Day points to a time to look inside at how we love God and man. Lent and Valentine Day calls us to check whether our priorities are out of line because our love is out of line. St Valentine was not short of God’s love or afraid of the Emperor. True love rejoice in Truth just as St Valentine did. Righteousness is predicated on Truth, the Word of God, hence Lent and Valentine day should work on Truth and rejoice in Truth.

It may be easy to blame Hollywood for giving false impression about love or Photoshop giving unrealistic impressions of beauty and sex. Lent and Valentine Day calls for repentance from ‘do-your-own-thing morality,’ and to stop the increasing assault by the popular culture on the Christian common sense and the common values. Lent and Valentine Day awakens us to repent from misguided theologies calling good evil, and evil good (Is 5:20, Jer 2:8; 5:13; 3:25). St. Valentine loved God enough to die for God’s Truth. Jesus fasted for 40 days in preparation for his death and Resurrection. What better way to celebrate Lent and Valentine Day than to commit or recommit your life to Jesus as you Lord and Saviour? Please, pray for healing of homes and marriage.

LENT DAY 6: Healthy life is not only by physical nourishment
Spirituality can become idolatry when we put someone or anything first in our life, before the living and true God. Lent in form of Jesus’ forty-day sojourn in the desert is not just a self ‘life laundry,’ but a stripping away of our excess luggage. Self is the the great idol which is the rival of God hence, Lent is a time to revisit our self and deal with our particular temptations and attachment to pleasure, power, money, and honour. Remember, Satan wanted Jesus to turn stone to bread, forgetting that man shall not life by bread alone because healthy life is not only by physical nourishment, and physical nourishment does not guarantee healthy life (Deut 8:2-3). Let us remember and pray for the lonely and those who are bereaved

LENT DAY 7: LENT AND USE OF SCRIPTURE: In our modernity, Jesus’ temptation is to illuminate our own entire life experience and use of Scripture. You may not feel tempted to do evil; we are tempted daily to trust in something other than God and His Word. Jesus stood up to the devil using scripture: ‘One does not live by bread alone.’ Like, Buy One Get One Free, the devil gave Jesus the ultimate rule in a much faster, easier way; a temptation of ‘doing good thing for the needy’ to become another god whom to worship. The devil quoted scripture (a proof that it can be used for evil as well as for good): “For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you… on their hands they will bear you up …’ In each level of the temptation that comes under the guise of doing good, Jesus finds in Scripture the words to give voice to his trust in God. At the heart of each reply is Jesus’ absolute trust in and dependence on God for his identity and future. Without trust in God, one may quotes verses upon verses and miss the forest for the trees or trust more in the words on the page than in the person – the Word made flesh. Lent is a time to renew our dependence on God for our true identity and future. Please choose Bible reading and prayer as a Lenten discipline if you haven’t already chosen one

LENT DAY 8: LENT AND TEMPTATION: God’s offer of salvation goes with as many temptations as it does blessings. The devil tempts us to worship him by worshipping us. The devil tried to dumb down the Truth by emptying the gospel of the miraculous and prophecy. He raises the ‘I’ in each of us to become the central place in each of our universes. Temptation is not always to do anything grossly evil, but to do some good things, but for the wrong reasons or at the wrong time or wrong thing for good reason. Brian Stoffregen rightly asked, ‘what’s wrong with turning stones into bread (if one can do it) to feed the hungry? … What’s wrong with the King of kings and Lord of lords assuming control over the kingdoms of the world? … What’s wrong with believing scriptures so strongly that the Son of God trusts the angels to protect him? Beloved, do not succumb to abuse or intimidation. Lent is about hearing and obeying the voice of the Saviour rather than the Slanderer. According to Stephen McCutchan, ‘our desire for power … our ability to shape and control events … makes us dangerously oblivious to the need to have our life centred in God.’ We therefore become enslaved to impulse, fear, craving, pride, and luxuries. Jesus shows us how to keep life in perspective even in temptation, God must be at the centre. Lent is a good time for us to reflect on our capacity to hear and centre our lives on God. Please pray for the widows and orphans.

LENT DAY 9: LENT AND THE LIES: The success Satan achieved in Eden is a success he has enjoyed throughout the ages. The twin lies of human divinity and immortality have been Satan’s foundation for his counterfeit religion throughout the ages but he failed in his triple lies to Jesus. He has been using these lies to hide from us the importance of seeking salvation only in Christ. The lies that says we can live our best life outside the rules of God and his Word. The lies that suggests we need total freedom to be happy and thereby resist the Lordship of God. Lent calls us to learn not to buy into the deceptions, rebellions, and lies of power, honour and dominion in the garden and desert of our life. The question is how do you resist the lies of Satan? Just as lie requires personal commitment, Truth requires personal conversion. Commitment without conversion produces compromise. Satan is seeking for the misery of all mankind and this is the reason behind the ongoing war against Christianity. Remember, the enemy manipulates the Truth and justifies a lie to get our attention. What is the deception confronting you? Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith did not buy into deception and lies of Satan, don’t buy into it. Remember, sin travels faster by association. Lent calls us ‘to submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you’ (Jam 4:7).
LENT DAY 10: Lent and Our Common Struggle: The temptation narrative describes our common struggle – the kingdom of God versus the kingdom of the world. We all struggle with one thing or the other to remain obedient to God. The Spirit-filled life which Jesus lived was a life that was unconditionally surrendered to God regardless of the outcome. It is argued that when a person knows that they have God’s unconditional blessing centred deeply in their heart, the temptations of this world pale in comparison. Satan offers Jesus ‘things,’ and this gives us insight into the darkness of Satan’s heart, where things are more important than beings. Where beings are used to get things. Where beings are a means to an end.” The solution to our common struggle is a life surrendered to our common Saviour- Jesus Christ. Do you need a faith strong enough to bring you back from the edge of the abyss, unbelief, and temptation? Lent provides a testimony to the biblical principle that temptation is a crucible that test the quality of our faith and application of the Word of God. Let us pray for all medical workers.

LENT DAY 11: Call to faith that over run what we know: Two thousand years ago, a nameless Samaritan woman came to an ancient well with a need (Jn. 4:13-14). She was with the same need that we have today just as many still takes spiritual need for physical need. To her, she was thirsty for a drink and it became a routine coming to Jacob’s well in Shechem with her water jar every day. The Samaritan woman, like many of us, misunderstands so much about the Truth. When we use our human curiosity to judge spiritual things, we focus on everyday life than eternal life. At Jesus’ revelation, she dropped her water jar and became an evangelist.

Lent as a time of renew encounter with Jesus calls us to drop our water jar of unbelief, pride, tradition, and ignorance. Lent is a time to know what we ought to know, to love what we ought to love, to praise what delights God most, to value what is precious in God’s sight, to hate what is offensive to Him. Lent is a time not to judge according to the sight of our eyes, nor to pass sentence according to the hearing of the ears of ignorant men. Lent is time to discern with a true judgement between things visible and spiritual, and above all, always to inquire what is the good pleasure of God’s will. Lent is a time to receive God’s offer of salvation and reject Satan’s seductions; a time to confront our true selves, experience God’s grace, and share the good news.

LENTEN REFLECTION 12: LIVING LENT, TRANSFIGURES.
The three experiences of Jesus, his temptation in the desert, his Transfiguration on Mount Tabor and Resurrection are three stages – the problem, the application, and conclusion of a thesis, the thesis of the life of Jesus Christ. The three stages of Jesus’ life provides a model of our life. What could the experience of temptation say about you and me? What could the Jesus’ Transfiguration and Resurrection say about you and me? The reflection here for you and me is that we carry a God given glory within us, confirming us as His sons and daughters. We are baptised in Christ Jesus, a co-heir with Christ. As members of Christ’s body, Lent calls us to see the meaning of temptation, and of the Transfiguration of Jesus as a message about the inner light of God we all carry within us.

Lent as a renewed discipline while walking through our wilderness calls us to renounce our sin in order to walk in daily obedience to Christ. The problem is centred on our human curiosity that like to see the change in order to believe. The good news is that, though we carry within us Temptation, by the grace of God, we carry with us Transfiguration as a means of our transformation. As foreshadowed in the Transfiguration, Resurrection reveals the fullness of Christ’s glory, especially when we give ourselves anew to the Gospel. Transfiguration offers deliverance opportunity since our freedom was fractured by sin. In essence, the gospel on the Temptation of Jesus in the desert and that of the Transfiguration on the Mountaintop are connected in the way Jesus shows us the pathway to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil in the desert of our life.

The victory over our desert opens the gateway of eternity. Lent as reflective of life therefore points to the centrality of the Transfiguration of the Lord in preparation for our eternal glory. Living Lent, transfigures our fractured human nature so as to experience the Resurrection power to which we are called and positioned in Christ Jesus. Lent calls us not just to observe the desert of our sin and weakness as annual ritual, but to move into the Mountaintop of eternal Truth and glory. Lent without the Mountaintop experience amounts to ritual of facial disfiguration rather than heart transformation. Beloved, there is a hidden glory under the veil of your mortal flesh and human condition. Lent is a preparation for such hidden glory to burst forth in unimaginable light and splendour. That is the revival we need today. Transfiguration is at the heart and core of the Lenten season and has the power to transform our hearts, strengthens and confirms our faith in Jesus. Living Lent by following Jesus’ way transfigures our hearts, bodies and spirits for Resurrection encounter. Today, as we celebrate the Transfiguration, let the account of Jesus’ transfiguration become your transformation. We are to be transformed in our thinking and about the vision and mission of Jesus. Remember, Jesus exchanged his robe of heavenly brightness for the crown of thorn to safe you and me.

LENT DAY 13: Peter’s error, our error and church error:
The account of the Transfiguration of Jesus is a turning point in discipleship. Peter, one of the disciples is very prone to say something, often something dumb; peradventure, that is why he was not the author of one of the gospels. Luke tells us that Peter did not know what he was saying. In a world where everybody is right, Peter could have truncated Jesus’ mission. Peter wanted a King with a crown and not a King with a cross. For him, cross was incompatible with the crown. Peter could also represent a sleeping church dreaming dreams of the world and self renovation based on its own reason and goodness. A sleeping Christian or church could easily perceive illusion as reality. Peter’s illusion was to serve a hidden purpose. Lent as a discipline experience calls us to repent from error of talking too quickly and thinking too little; error of trying to exchange God’s Word for our hidden agenda. Peter’s error, a blasphemy, a parade of human foolishness, mischievousness and preferences were the viewpoint of man and Satan (Matt 16:21-23). The darker side of Peter’s error about building three tabernacles was his confession on the Lordship of Jesus Christ, eight days earlier. Today, many are still making tabernacles of compromise, putting Jesus upon the same level with others. Lent calls us to repent from missing the point of the Transfiguration. Please let us pray for the church leaders, shops and people on our High Streets.

LENT DAY 14: ‘Lent Poll’ – Who is Jesus?: Peter’s foundational understanding in relating Jesus’ identity with other prophets after his confession shows that he was not yet fully aware that Jesus possessed total divinity. Peter and other disciples had to learn about Jesus’ divinity through his ministry as a whole. The crowd’s frame of mind is that kingdom means immediate victory forgetting that before the glory comes the cross. The crowd always wrestle with the prophetic nature of Jesus’ ministry and God’s Word. Being a disciple of Christ means and demands a humble life fully committed to obeying God’s Word and submitting to Jesus as Master. To be a follower of Christ is more than mere intellectual assent. Lent is a time to deny and break away from our normal crowd routine and rationality, and find the Truth that we often miss (Lk 9:23-27). Lent offers a new way and true way to God and His Words through deeper learning, just as the disciples have to learn the voice from heaven at the transfiguration instructing them to listen to Jesus. Our response to the ‘Lent Poll,’ – ‘Who is Jesus?’ would show our discipleship or a crowd understanding and recognition of Jesus’ identity. Remember, prophets have abounded through the centuries, only Jesus is called the Christ, God’s anointed. Lent is a time to encounter Christ anew. Let us pray for the old and the aged, the sick and lonely.

LENT DAY 15: BEYOND TRANSFIGURATION: Beyond Transfiguration, the mountaintop experience is the up-and-down of our spiritual records. Jesus encountered a crowd after he descended from the mountain and his response to the frantic father is very instructive (Luke 9). The way he also responded to his disciples failure to cast out the demon mirrored his worry for the persistent unbelief of a whole ‘unbelieving and perverse generation.’ During the Transfiguration, Jesus, proclaimed as the Son of God by a heavenly voice and glowing with heavenly glory was frustrated at the next moment for his disciples’ lack of faith. Lent is a time to live faithfully; to confront different discouraging, disappointing, distressing challenges and situations. In the midst of our distress, Jesus provides us a model. We are not to let discouragement guide our hearts. Lent is a time to act in mercy; it is a time to rebuke the evil spirit, and overcome disappointment that tries to keep us from doing what God has called us to do. Lent is a time not to allow our emotions (low or high) and appetites to guide us. Without Jesus life is futile. At Jesus’ command, the boy returns to his father healed. Just as Jesus is able to reverse evils if we trust him, Lent is a time to reverse every evil around us. Let us pray for those under demonic attack. Let us pray for our youth, for a passion to love Jesus.

LENT DAY 16: LENTEN MISSION: The modern society may try to trivialise Jesus as just one of history’s many great figures, the Transfiguration makes us to know better. The Transfiguration teaches and calls each one of us to open our hearts and lives to His Spirit, so that He can “transfigure” all humanity, into “a new creation.” Regardless of where you are in your faith journey, Jesus is ready to transfigure you. The Truth about Transfiguration is change. It is about ‘What God changes, God changes through us.’ It is a change from mountain experience to mission. Mission is a change that begins with you and me when we are touched and transformed by Christ, so that we can then go out and share Christ with others. In Lent, we see and receive true light from the Holy Spirit. In our renewed faith, we offer to the world a witness of our lives transfigured. Zan Holmes captures the mountain to mission order for us: “Christianity is a come-and-go affair. We come up to the mountain, but we must go back down again. We come to worship, but we must go to serve.” Lent is a time to go into the world and shine forth His love, His light, His mercy, His grace and His truth onto all those with whom we have contact. Let us pray for the teaching and non-teaching staffs in schools.

LENT DAY 17: Praying for the Queen and our leaders.

‘In the last 90 years the extent and pace of change has been truly remarkable. We have witnessed triumphs and tragedies. Our world has enjoyed great advances in science and technology, but it has also endured war, conflict and terrible suffering on an unprecedented scale.

I am touched that Bible Society, HOPE and the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity have published this book to celebrate my 90th birthday. In my first Christmas Broadcast in 1952, I asked the people of the Commonwealth and Empire to pray for me as I prepared to dedicate myself to their service at my Coronation. I have been — and remain — very grateful to you for your prayers and to God for His steadfast love. I have indeed seen His faithfulness.

As I embark on my 91st year, I invite you to join me in reflecting on the words of a poem quoted by my father, King George VI, in his Christmas Day broadcast in 1939, the year that this country went to war for the second time in a quarter of a century.

I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied, “Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.”
Please let us reflect on this and pray for the Queen, our leaders, and revival in our churches.

LENT DAY 18: Lent and Bible: Lent is a Bible-filled season that calls for decisive action and engaging the postmodern world. According to Bishop Barron, ‘while we take comfort from much of the Bible’s message, the Bible is not always comforting news. It often carries a message of warning and danger. It’s good for us, during this Lenten season, to attend to the darker side of the Biblical message.’ With the experience of Israel in the wilderness, Paul illustrates the tragic consequences of rejecting the blessings of God for the delights of idolatry and other sins (I Cor 1:1-13). Human wisdom did not save Noah, obedience did.

Jesus startles the Samaritans woman by exposing her dark side. She either open up, humble herself and receive eternal life or in her pride walk away. Lent is a time to be honest with ourselves and others and admit our sin. Lent calls us to tell others about the truth we have found in Jesus. Lent is a time to let the light of God’s Word shine on our dark sides. Please pray for the widows and the lonely.

LENT DAY 19: LENT AND REPENTANCE: The Gospel lesson for today is about the unfruitful fig tree which symbolised the outcome of Israel’s unresponsiveness to the Word of God (Luke 13:1-9). However, Luke constructs the parable of the fig tree with an element of hope. There is still time for the fig tree to bear fruit. There is still time for your life, my life and the church to bear fruit. The The parable reinforces ideas that cultivated yet unproductive tree may continue to live even without bearing fruit, only because it has been granted additional time to do what it is supposed to do. The church is in additional time, an extra time to rethink and return back to God. According to Luke 8:3, unless it begins to bear fruit, an image of repentance, the result will be its just and swift destruction. This parable also recall John the Baptiser using similar images of imminent judgement, ‘even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire’ (Lk 3:9). The parable carries a message of warning and danger, may even looks threatening, it is good for us and the church in general, during the Lent, to attend to the darker side of the parable. In this season of Lent, the church has an opportunity to seek restoration and renewal through the discipline of confession and heartfelt repentance.

The parable also warns against false reassurance and philosophy. Just because you have not been cut down, do not presume that you are bearing fruit. Our churches have been spared the ax, even in the midst of this season of spiritual and moral downturn. We have been given extra time, thanks be to God. Lent calls us not to use God’s blessing as an opportunity to return to old ways or maintain our indifference to the Truth of the Word of God. Lent calls you and me to be so bold as to seize this season of Lent to do something different in the light of God’s Word shining on our dark sides.

The reflection is that whatever yesterday was like, disappointments, unbelief, unforgiveness, mistakes, you have been given the gift of today; and today the gardener is ready to work through you, nourishing you by his Spirit, forgiving you your sins by His Almighty grace that you might bear fruit. In this time of Lent, we are called to give thanks to the one who has spared you and me from the axe and given us the gift of today. Lent is a time to receive the gift by repenting from our ways of sin, but to the practice of self examination and renewal through the power of the Holy Spirit. Repentance becomes less interesting when people mistake it to mean moral uprightness, expressions of regret. In many places in the Bible, repentance refers to a changed mind, to a new way of seeing things, to being persuaded to adopt a renewed perspective.
Lent calls us to a renewed perspective and to give thanks to the one who has spared you and me from the axe. The season of Lent is a time to focus on our personal renewal through repentance. According to Jesus, unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did. Beloved, let us turn away from the ways of sin and death and towards the one who will bring new life. Let us not take this gift for granted or set it aside, but instead let it cause us to return to the ways of righteousness and love. The fig tree was spared the axe, and if you are hearing this, so were you. But what will you do with today? Let us pray for all mothers and singles for grace and strength.

LENT DAY 20: LENT AND THE FIG TREE: The parable of the Fig tree speaks to you and me, and the church today as the outcome of our unresponsiveness to the Word of God (Luke 13:1-9). The lesson is that the church as the community of fig trees may learn to see need of repentance and renewal. Lenten season is a fertilising season to help the barren fig tree bear fruit again to avoid God’s judgement. Lent is a time to examine our spiritual and physical diets and make necessary changes and cutting down too many hours of radio, TV, and social media which fill our heads with so much noise that we can’t sit still, quiet down and listen to God. Lent a time to save our appetite so that we can fast by feasting on the Word of God. Lent is a time we could redirect some of our hours to entertainment that nourishes our spiritual life. Mel Gibson’s film on the Lord’s passion was released on Ash Wednesday for a reason. It was offered as a Lenten meditation to help us understand the shocking consequences of sin and the astounding Love that lays down his life for his friends. Watch this video and invite someone to join you. If you fear the violence of The Passion of the Christ would be too much for you, rent Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth, and watch it with family and friends. The parable of the Fig tree is to awaken the church to the consciousness that Jesus is coming again. Let us make this Lent count because there may not be another. Let us pray for our educational system and local MPs.

LENT DAY 21: OVERCOMING BARRENNESS (1): Lent is a time to break the spirit of barrenness, especially in such a time when the barrenness in the church is more and serious than the barrenness in the world. Barrenness is not only an emotional or state of being that only childless women encounters. Two Greek words ‘steiras’ (Luke 1:7, 36; 23:29, Gal 4:27), and ‘argos’ (2 Pet 1:8) provides a reflection how we all experience different degrees of barrenness along our faith journey. According to George Lorimer, ‘There is nothing more pitiable than a soulless, sapless, shrivelled church, seeking to thrive in a worldly atmosphere, rooted in barren professions, bearing no fruit, and maintaining only the semblance of existence; such a church cannot long survive.’ Barrenness means to be unfruitful, sterile, childless, heir-less. Signs of barrenness includes lack of new converts, absence of healing and miracles, lack of growth in the visions and dreams given by the Holy Spirit, and lack of growth in number of people baptised. Like Sarah, many individuals and churches are fighting the barrenness of old age (Gen 11:30), and barrenness of young age, like Hannah (1 Sam 1:1-18). Barrenness speaks of people and churches who are unyielding and disobedient to the voice and Word of God. Unhealthy view of God’s Word is a pointer to the barrenness in the church because physical and spiritual health of the church are intrinsically linked as our spiritual condition will be revealed in the physical world.

A reflection on Sarah and Hannah as an interesting pair of stories has something to say to you and me, and the church. Barrenness as the deepest social stigma to a Eastern wife like Sarah, also speaks of spiritual stigma to the church as a community of fig trees. Many churches today are fighting the barrenness of old age and rather than listening and honouring the Word of God, like Sarah, we look for a new interpretation, Hagar’s version and expression to suit our agenda. The problem of Hagar’s version hunts the world till date. Overcoming our barrenness is not just about another method but a new and humble mindset. Lent calls us to diagnose and beware of barrenness of busy life. To overcome our barrenness, we need to listen to the voice of God; we need to believe what God says and do exactly what God tells us to do. Let us pray and ask God for blessedness for our barrenness – spiritually and physically.

LENT DAY 22: OVERCOMING BARRENNESS (2): God’s plan for us is to move from barrenness to blessedness. Hannah was not just interested in babies; she was interested in given birth to soul that would serve God. Her story has something to say to the church today (1 Sam 1:1-18). Just as Hannah’s vow of consecration and surrender unleashed the power of God, Lent provides opportunity for us to experience God’s power. Is your life at a stalemate because heaven is awaiting a new depth of consecration from you? Search your heart and God’s mind for an answer. Ending barrenness involves being intimate with God. Lent is a call to intimacy and communing with God and waiting in His presence. In His presence, we develop burden for the lost like Hannah with heart rendering burden. Lent is a time to carry burden for lost souls, seeking the Lord for their salvation. Thought of souls perishing in Hell should bring us to our knees and send us out to tell others about Jesus. For God to move in our churches with great power in these days of social and spiritual – young and old age barrenness, we need to come to a place of brokenness. Confess our inability and seek God’s ability. Happy and blessed are those who follows God’s ways and those who love God’s Word will bear fruits that abides (Ps 1). Let us pray for each other’s effectiveness in winning souls for Christ.

LENT DAY 23: LENT TO SING: The barrenness of Jerusalem, Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth serves to prepare them for something great. Before we sees something great, the Lord tells us in our barrenness ‘to rejoice’ (Is 54:1). To be barren is to be in a place of longing for a particular dream to come to pass. Are you still ‘barren’ waiting for your dream or healing? Do not become bitter and fed up waiting. Lent is a call to wait and focus on God more than our personal dream and problem. Lent is a time to love the heart of the One who made the promise more than the promise itself. Just like in Lent, in the longing and waiting of Sarah and Hannah, it was no longer about the dream, it was about who they become while waiting. The barren can rejoice because the chastisement for our peace fell upon Jesus. (Isaiah 53:5) The word “peace” here in Hebrew means completeness, soundness, health, safety and provision. In other words, all these benefits are ours today because Jesus has already been punished at the cross for our peace (Is 53:4-5). That is why you can start rejoicing. Lent is a time to rejoice in preparation for something great that is about to happen. Revival is coming again and the gate of hell shall not prevail in Jesus name. Whatever barren situation you are in, rejoice and tell God. Halleluyah!

LENT DAY 24: DANCING IN THE FLAMES: I believe the Lord is asking me to say to someone, Sing, O captive, in your fiery furnace. In the midst of our different degrees of fiery furnaces, Lent calls us to verbalise our faith and gratitude in and to God (Dan 3:16-18). Hymns of Christian faith whether written as prayers and petitions, praise and thanksgiving, or promise of commitment tell the story of God’s faithfulness and His great love. Some hymns were penned as a response to adversity and sorrow, and others burst forth as expressions of exuberant joy. The comforting and reassuring hymn, ‘Abide with me fast falls the eventide,’ written by Rev Henry Lyte, though weak in health and the attendant pain of his illness has become a legacy to the world-wide church. Rev Lyte’s realisation of God’s changeless goodness and His never failing presence is giving comfort in sorrow, part clouds of depression, and calm anxieties. In our barrenness or captivity, we can sing to help change our perspective and bring hope in times of despair. The truth is that we become like what we worship. Lent calls us to worship God in Truth and Spirit, especially in our state of barrenness, captivity, and pains.
At the midnight of their prison experience, Paul and Silas sang praises to God and old foundations began to shake and the rocks fell off and cuffs fell off their hands (Acts 16:22-26). Are you in the midst of debilitating circumstances like Jonah? (Jonah 2:7-10). At Lent we orientate ourselves to sing and dance in our prisons, in our flames, in our sickness, in our barrenness. Sing unto God a new song from your heart, one that is never been written. Lent empowers us not to bow to the pains and music of the world, but in the midst of the fire, in the midst of conflict, we can remain true and faithful to God despite what the consequences might be. Pray for your personal and family renewal

LENT DAY 25: LENT AND THE HOLY SPIRIT: The spirit of Lent is the Holy Spirit. The 40 Days of Lent are a classroom with the Holy Spirit as the Teacher in which we learn to conquer the “world, the flesh and the devil” so as to live in Pentecostal fullness. Father Raniero Cantalamesa explained that the definition of the Holy Spirit by the ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 381 provides two fundamental answers to two questions about the Holy Spirit – “Who is the Holy Spirit?” the answer is that he is “Lord” (that is, he belongs to the sphere of Creator, not of creatures) who proceeds from the Father and is worshipped equally with the Father and the Son. To the question “What does the Holy Spirit do?” the answer is that he “gives life” (which summarises all his sanctifying, interior, and renewing action) and that “he has spoken through the prophets” (which summarises the charismatic action of the Holy Spirit). The Holy Spirit as the creating Spirit (or breath) of God gives and sustains life even while dancing in the flames (Gen 1:2, Ps 33:6, Job 26:13, 33:4, Ps 104:30). Holy Spirit gives new life (Ez 37:1-14). The Holy Spirit is the life-giver in the conception of Jesus Christ (Mat 1:18, Lk 1:35). The Holy Spirit gives resurrection life to Jesus Christ (1Pe 3:18, Ro 1:4). The Holy Spirit brings new spiritual life (Jn 3:5, Jn 3:6,8; Jn 6:63) The Holy Spirit sets believers free from bondage and works that lead to death (Ro 8:2, Ro 8:6,13; Gal 6:8). The oil of gladness represents the power of the Holy Spirit with which Jesus is anointed by God. Wherever you find the Holy Spirit, you will find power and anointing. The three are connected, they cannot be separated. The spirit of Lent anoints and gives life to the barren and the captives in the flames. Lent is a special time to experience new spiritual life and deliverance from power of death. Without the Holy Spirit, Lent becomes a ritual. Let us pray for personal baptism of the Holy Spirit.

LENT REFLECTION /MOTHERING SUNDAY: FAMILY REUNION: Mothering Sunday is a call to family reunion; a chance for all kinds of people, all kinds of ways to make the gospel reading today our own story. Barbara Brown Taylor rightly explained the case of the prodigal son, the longest parable with 22 verses as parable of the Dysfunctional family. This is a story about a house husband – ‘a weak patriarch’ with an absentee wife/mother and ‘a rebellious adolescent’ (Lk 15:11). A family without a mother, is a broken family. Hence, in the quest for individualism, the parable of the prodigal son speaks to us today about a young generation, jobless generation, that wants to find themselves in the world, looking for freedom but not able to create a budget or stick to it. The extreme drive for independence and throwing off commitment is characteristic of our culture today. Many sees God and His Words as threat to their freedom and thereby keep distance just like the prodigal son found a distant country away from the Father’s holy presence to engage in wild living and sin that all his money was spent.

The prodigal son allowed money to control his lifestyle and not obedience to the Father. The truth is that when the devil tempts, he never reveals the ruinous end of sin. The Christian life is not boring, but the deceived, like the prodigal son think it is. The misery, regret and pain of living outside of God’s will is also shown in the life of the prodigal son (15:19). Prodigal son speaks of normality, like the culture of individual’s right to freedom, free choice, and independence. The prodigal son cannot wait for his father to die. He lived like every prodigal user of credit cards, to seek happiness in spending; the prime biblical case of consumerism. Uncontrol independence can end up in degradation like the prodigal son. Independence should not break the ties that binds us to home and family. Definition of freedom that contradict belonging, but promote choosing and buying at will and at whim ends in the prodigal’s pig swill.

The message of Lent to the Mothering Sunday is that we all need to come to our senses and turn from sin, sacrifice our honour to reunite broken family and marriage values. Lent is a call to the dysfunctional family to reconcile again. Lent is a preparation for family reunion, a restoration and true reconciliation for every one. Using the words of Miroslav Volf, lent is a time to open our ‘arms, make a movement of the self toward the others…’ Lent is a call to fathers, mothers and children to reconcile. Lent is a time to learn how to welcome others with unconditional love. Lent and the Mothering Sunday calls us to return to God and reconcile with our family because the farther we get from the Father’s loving care, the worse of we will be. Let us pray for healing of homes and nation.

Lent Deliverance Prayer for our nation.
“And the dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth.” Lazarus comes out with all of the signs of death still clinging to him. So Jesus says “Untie him and let him go.” Here we see it: Whatever limits, binds, controls, orders, dominates us – these are the enemies of God. We pray for (name of your country), all the enemies of God that wrapped your vision and limit your destiny, all the signs of death clinging on you shall receive fire of divine judgement in Jesus name.

LENT DAY 27: LENTEN CALL TO CONVERSION: The temptations Jesus engages in the desert are the prototype of all of the challenges we face as we respond to the continuing call to conversion. Lent is a personal invitation to renew our baptism and return to the Father through repentance. St Augustine provides a good reflection on the importance of conversion. Born on November 13, 354, in Thagaste near the eastern border of present-day Algeria. He became a professor of rhetoric in Milan and later captured by Ambrose’s gospel. In A D 386, he resigned his chair in rhetoric and converted to Christianity and baptised the following Easter at the age of 33.

The first moment of Augustine’s conversion was ‘his abandonment of the very highly theoretical mode of reasoning …’ To Augustine, ‘divine revelation comes to us in the form of a story because God’s dealing with us are narratively shaped rather than a philosophical treatise.’ The second moment in Augustine conversion was his embrace of the gospel as the truth. He allowed the gospel to shape his life. According to Kallenberg, ‘to call a story true is to trust it to be a reliable guide for interpreting my past and navigating my future.’ Lent calls us to the Christian vocation, a continuing call to conversion by allowing the gospel to make sense of our past and also shape our future. Lent is a call to be a Christ-follower, a character who contributes to the continual telling, retelling and re-retelling of Christ’s story. Lenten call to conversion is a call to a new identity through the story line of the gospel. Let us pray for increase awareness on conversion of souls.

LENT DAY 28: LENTEN EVANGELISM: In such an age as ours, when evangelism has become a cross-cultural task, Lent is a good evangelism opportunity, bringing people to Christian faith in response to the inaugural speech of a former President of the British Methodist Conference, Rev Steve Wild. He urged us to, ‘take God seriously. I want to help us in the task of evangelism, to put mission on the agenda and give our churches an aim to win a person for Christ … We cannot sit back in complacency … We have a massive Kingdom of God task. I’m wanting this year to challenge each church to bring one person to faith – to make one new member this next year, let’s make bringing people to faith the main point …’

Apostle Paul’s speech to all the Greek philosopher types on Mars Hill in Athens is helpful on the urgency of engaging Lent as an evangelism opportunity, he tells them, ‘The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed, and of this He has given assurance to all people by raising Him from the dead’ (Acts 17:30-31).

At the end of Lent waits Easter with the Resurrection of our Lord, let us look for new ways of bringing the Gospel into our communities bearing in mind that every congregation HAS a mission field. Let us pray that our plans during Holy Week will bring people to Christ. Please remember our local preachers, choirs, and organists in your prayers.

LENT DAY 29: LENT AND CHILDREN: For believing mums and dads, explaining Easter to our kids something as profound, powerful and mysterious as the death and resurrection of Jesus, which is, after all, at the heart of our Christian faith may not be an easy task. Unlike Christmas story which is a cinch to kids. The birth of Jesus is relatively simple to grasp – Nativity scenes, carols and pageants all reinforce the biblical story. How do we help our children to understand that when it comes to Easter, Jesus (not the Easter Bunny) is the reason for the season? In an age when the iPad is a far bigger threat to our children than anyone realises. According to psychologist Sue Palmer, ‘today, on average, children spend five to six hours a day staring at screens … watching TV while playing on an iPad … Sadly, we’re seeing the rise of the ‘techno-tot’ for whom iPad have become the modern-day equipment of a comfort blanket.’ Rather than putting children to bed with a table computer to play with as as then fall asleep, Lent is a time to tell and retell Christ’s story to our children. Our children are hungry for truths of God (Mark 10:14; Luke 18:16). Lent is a time not to hold back what God has to say about Easter, the most important event in human history. Let us pray for parents and Sunday school teachers for more grace to retell Christ’s story to our children.

LENT DAY 30: DYING TO SELF: Lent bids us to a personal goal of authenticity and discipleship rather than ‘surface habits of a passionless piety.’ The question that Lent, the season of truth, asks is ‘How much reality about ourself can we bear?’ Are we aware of our ambiguous motives, our rampant ego, our inner envy, our urge to power or control others? To live the authentic Christian life, Lent calls us to enter those raw and searing cellars of our own unbearable darkness. The avoidance promotes pride, personal, and church decline. Just as beauty is not in makeup or clothing, increase in our religious and social behaviours during Lent cannot be equated with growth in holiness (Rom 6:4-8). Lent summons us to hold within us the tension of the paradoxes of our lives. Lent is a time to engage our soul and overcome our shadow because when our soul disintegrate, we become inauthentic within ourselves. Our shadows, our underground realities bury our painful emotions as dead covering ‘the hurts of our hearts with the bandages of the mind’ (Rom 6-8).

As a choice that leads to eternal life, we grow by dying to self especially during Lent, ‘when we recognise the false face we’ve grown used to, … the thoughts of deception that crowds our mind … the lovelessness of our lives parading as shallow compassion, our collusion with conformity, …’ We die to self by removing the self-renewing fat of pride and anger from the ribs of our soul. Dying to self is the reality of the new birth (Jn 3:3-7). This Lent could be the best Lent in our lives, “If today you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts…”

LENT DAY 31: LENT AND ETERNITY: Lent is a time to learn what has true eternal values and purpose in our life. Our desire from life must not means rejection of the Truth and God’s teachings. We must not exchange precious pearl of great value for a false jewel. Lent is a time to repent from blind attraction and false philosophy. According to Archbishop Michael Ramsey, those who participated in the crucifixion broadly represented you and me, ‘the human race in its behaviour and attitudes: the soldiers who executed Jesus doing their duty and obeying their orders with a sheer insensitivity about doing it to a fellow human being, Pilate knowing what was right but compromising his conscience by subterfuges, the religion leaders keen about religion and morality but in their blindness to its implications rejecting Jesus and his teaching in a nervous insecurity.’ The soldiers, Pilate, and religious leaders stands for all of us pursuing blind attractions and philosophy, and ‘Jesus is a lonely figure.’ Lent is a time of reflection and repentance from the crowd which ignores God and turns and looks inwardly within the orbit of oneself.

Lent is a time of turning our mind in a new direction and stop rejecting Jesus and of the divine purpose and teaching. Earth was never meant to be heaven. There is no perfect happiness on earth. Life on earth is very short compared with eternity. Lent is a time to regain the grace for eternal happiness. We must not use this temporal earth to destroy our eternity. Lent is a time to open the eyes of our souls, the eyes of our hearts to see and dream the possession of heaven and its eternal treasures. Unlike the church at Thyatria (Rev 2), the church that respond to Jesus’ teachings should be very different from a world which ignores it. The whole scenario in Thyatria is paralleled to many churches today, accepting the easy going alternative lifestyle. Lent is a time to learn and take stand for eternal values especially when earthly/business principles collide with our Christian principles. Let us pray for the sick and lonely. Let us pray for the homeless and street pastors.

LENT DAY 32: LENT AND REALITY OF HELL: Just as Lent is a time to regain the perspective of eternity, and the possession of heaven and its eternal treasures (2 Pet 1:11), Lent is also a time to confront the ‘terrifying reality’ of hell. Bishop Mark Davies, the Bishop Shrewsbury explained that ‘being aware of this limited time on earth and all that is to follow – our judgement … heaven or hell forever becomes an urgent invitation to conversion in our lives.’ According to him, the urgency of Lent and Easter recalls the realisation of what the Psalmist calls the shortness of lives which helps shape our priorities and gives each day a new urgency in the light of all eternity before us. The reflection is that every human being is eternal. According to Robert Payne, ‘the only question is whether or not we will spend that eternity in Heaven or Hell. God has no desire for anyone to go to Hell (2 Pet 3:9) but He has made the option open to anyone to who chooses to go. Just as sin is a choice, our going to Heaven or Hell is a choice.

The Bible has more to say about hell and to deny the fact of hell is to deny that the Bible is the infallible Word of God and to deny the deity of Christ. Hell is not a religious fable used to scare wicked into becoming a good religious citizens. Hell is a biblical fact. Remember Heaven is a place (Jn 14:1-6), Heaven is the Saint’s place (Col 3:1-4); Heaven is an eternal place (Is 65:17). Hell is a place (Ps. 9:17); Hell is the sinner’s place (Acts 1:25); Hell is an eternal place (Matt 25:41). Callum Illman reminds us “No matter how rich or poor you are, all life will come to an halt with two types of destinations; Heaven and Hell.” You have a choice. Let us pray for all ministers in training and those on probation, for unction to function.

LENT DAY 33: LENTEN ATTITUDE: The anointing of Jesus at Bethany is one of the three incidents that brought Jesus’ public ministry to an end and prepare us for the Crucifixion. In our Gospel reading today, the action and picture of Mary suggests a true response and attitude of a devoted disciple who ignores the criticisms and taboos of her society in her commitment to Jesus. In a very disturbing and scandalous manner, Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with extremely expensive perfume and then wiped them with her hair (Jn 12:3). Mary’s pride as a woman was her hair hence, she treasure Jesus more than her pride. It is an expression of humility and devotion for a Jewish woman like Mary to let down their hair in public. Mary’s action and attitude makes Judas uncomfortable. Mary’s attitude speaks to you and I through her selfless devotion, and despite Judas’ attitude and disapproval, Mary treasure Jesus more than her reputation. Judas responded with dismay, calling a true worship a waste. What is a waste to man may be a way to God’s presence. Judas’ attitude speaks to us through his false posture and concern for the poor that was not motivated by the love for Christ.

Lent is a time to recognise and repent from our unworthiness, bad attitudes, our greed, and pride in order to humble ourselves before God. Lent is a time to let go, our pride and ego, for selfless devotion to Jesus’ mission. Mary and Judas contrast true and false discipleship, as well as true and false love. According to Westcott ‘Mary in her devotion unconsciously provides for the honour of the dead. Judas in his selfishness unconsciously brings about the death itself.’ Jesus said to Judas, ‘let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial.’ There is no neutrality is discipleship. One is either a true disciple with true love like Mary or a false disciple with false love like Judas. Judas’ hypocrisy and unbelief makes us more aware of Mary’s love for Jesus.

Lent is a time to learn and express humble attitude and genuine interest in Jesus. Like Mary and Judas, our attitudes and utterances reveals something deeper about ourselves. Contrary to the life and nature of a true discipleship, Judas’ heart reveals a heart in love with self and in love with money and the world. It is very sad that Judas, the treasurer, like the opponents of Jesus, was alienated from God but he may have thought he was acting for God’s glory. God’s glory will indeed be manifest, but not as Judas thinks. Judas’ heart is a heart of falsehood and unbelief just as Mary’s heart is a heart of love that long for eternity. It is easier for Judas to market celebration rather than confession because of his mind blinded with covetousness and unbelief, and yet pretending godliness. Lent calls us to respond to God’s invitation with a broken and contrite heart like Mary. Lent is a time to stop and repent from resisting God’s grace bearing in mind ‘that privilege of position is no substitute for faith and obedience.’ Let us pray for church leaders and expectant mothers for safe delivery. Let us pray for prison staffs and inmates.

LENT DAY 34: A CALL TO WORSHIP: The purpose of worship is to exalt Christ. Mary, in our Gospel reading yesterday understood the purpose and importance of worship. For Mary, the importance of worship is not the form of worship, but the object of worship. Mary’s method of worship did not surpass the purpose of worship. The people around her were concerned about the method of worship and not the purpose hence, they did not approve her style of worship. They think she is behaving irrationally and wasteful. In Bethany, the place where Lazarus had died and Jesus brought him back from dead, worship followed through Mary paying a high price in humility for following Jesus hence, worship is not just the amount we put in the offering plate.

Worship as an act of gratitude is a way of life, not only in a building. Worship as a relationship is about people in every ‘Bethany’ of our life, in every place we find ourselves. For Mary, it was where Lazarus had died, for Daniel and his friends, it was in the fiery flames, for the Samaritan woman, it was at the well, for Jesus, it was in the wilderness and also in Golgotha. Worship is not just the time between 10:00 and 12:00 on Sundays. Lent calls us to worship God every day of the week, in joy, in sorrow, in every place we find ourselves, sacrificing our ‘costly perfumes,’ professions, gifts, and reputations by making significant portion of our lives source of fragrance to people around us. Lent calls us to worship God in Truth and in Spirit and not just to be served or immersed ourselves in activities. Let us pray for our service men and women.

Jesus defended Mary against Judas’ condemnation, saying, “Leave her alone” (John 12:7). I pray for someone the Lord will defend you. Every Judas’ of envy, of condemnation, of sickness, of poverty, of accusation and limitations of your potentials will ‘leave you alone’ in Jesus name.

LENT DAY 35: LENT AND PEACE: In John 14:27, Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you: My [own] peace I now give…to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. The peace Jesus gives is totally different from the worldly peace we have when everything is going our way. Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit makes us peaceful when all natural reasoning says we should be upset. The truth is that you can make the decision to stop allowing yourself to get upset, aggravated and frustrated in this sinful and war-ravaged world. You and me have a responsibility to not let our hearts be troubled or afraid. Larry Tomczak says, ‘You are the only being in the universe that can cause defeat in your life. We will never break loose from anything we’re struggling with until we take personal responsibility for where we are now. Lent heralded the sacrifice that brings us peace

Lent is a time to stop blaming someone or something else for our problems – a bad childhood, our lack of education, our nationality, our personality – and make excuses for the way we are. Lent is a time not to allow the things from our past, or present, become an excuse to stay there. Lent is a time to move from ashes to fire of Pentecost. God is no respecter of persons hence, His promises are for “whosoever will” (Acts 10:34-35). We’re all “whosoever,” but not all of us are willing to do what we need to do to inherit the promises of God. We may be willing to hear the truth, but are we willing to do what it says? Let us pray for peace in the Middle East and other trouble parts of the world.

LENT DAY 36: CALL TO DEVOTION: The ‘Let her alone’ sharp rebuke from Jesus to Judas gives a note of urgency and reflection to the contemporary Christian to discover and overcome distractions in our devotion to God (Jn 12:7). At Bethany, while Mary turned all attention upon the Lord and His person; Judas turned the issue away from Christ and on the poor. Genuine devotion like that of Mary point people to Jesus and it produces spiritual insight for her ears to hear and eyes to see. Genuine devotion to Christ is not enthusiasm to a hobby or sport. Genuine devotion could result to condemnation like Mary was condemned just as Scripture teaches that ‘all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted’ (2 Tim 3:12). Lent is a call to stand for Christ and manifest the sweet aroma of His person and work, though this is always a threat to Satan’s kingdom (2 Cor 2:14-17; 4:16-18). Christian act of devotion is built on the understanding of Christ’s person, work and trust in Christ.

At Lent, we are to see below the surface of our cultures, actions and reactions. Devotion to Jesus is simple but not easy especially in today’s culture with so many pulls and distractions. For Judas, motivated by love of money, the pull was to the poor than to Jesus. Many times, despite our careful plans, the unexpected could also throw a curve into our spiritual schedule, like telephone, one of the rudest pieces of equipment in our culture. Television, radio, computer are among other choices that could hinder our devotion by decreasing our commitment, promoting boredom and withdrawal from others. During this Lent, it is important for us to look at our life and motives and see if the cultural pulls are affecting our devotion to Jesus. Lent is a time for all the cultural, social and human pulls, and distractions to ‘let you alone,’ to make a new decision so as to be fully devoted to Jesus. Let us pray for the Hospice volunteers and our security agencies.

LENT DAY 37: ANOINTING: key to living in God’s power: The backdrop for Mary’s anointing of Jesus with the costly perfume during a dinner hosted in gratitude to Jesus for raising Lazarus from the dead could be linked to the emergency meeting of the Sanhedrin (Jn 11:47-48, 53, 57). Mary anointed not the head of Jesus, as in Matthew and Mark, but his feet, which is contrary to the custom of the time. The oil is used as a symbol of what God is doing hence, true anointing is the power and influence of the Holy Spirit saturating and permeating a person (Lk 4:18-19, Acts 10:38).

True anointing as a Biblical concept is the medium of God’s intervention in the affairs of men. True Anointing is the divine agent that repeals the hold of darkness and quells the influence of death and sickness (Is 10:27). The anointing has less to do with the person that it flows through than it does with the person who receives it, and the One who sent it, God Almighty. Jesus’ anointing comes immediately before the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem where he will be acclaimed as the king of Israel (12:13), in accordance with Zech 9:9. We all need the anointing for the next level of our calling and mission in life (Jn 14:16). The principle of anointing is revealed in the bestowal of ability for a special function and could be hindered by pride, envy, and resentment.

The Church as the light of the world and salt of the earth is the operating paradigm of heaven’s intervention and vehicle of God’s manifestation. Without the anointing, the unction to function, the church becomes secular and powerless. When the church forfeits our influence and authority in the Spirit, we lose our identity and anointing, and take solace in the knowledge and systems of this world. The truth is that a worldly and weak church cannot rescue a dying world. Lent as a time for prayer and fasting is for us to be cleansed by God and be filled just as the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples at Pentecost in the upper room and anointed them for service. Lent is a time to be anointed by God with the Holy Spirit for Christian devotion and service. Let us pray for the church in Britain, Nigeria, Middle East, India, China and other nations where Christians are persecuted.

LENT DAY 38: St Patrick’s Day in LENT: None of the legends and other folklore of green beer or leprechauns, banishing snakes from Ireland, using shamrocks to teach the Trinity, or walking stick growing into a living tree has anything to do with the real Patrick. St Patrick’s Day is more important than what he did in Ireland because of what he symbolises in such a season as this and at a time when the church is loosing its identity and authority. Succat, meaning ‘warlike’ in modern Welsh and later known as St Patrick was born about the year A.D 372 A.D to a British family of Calpurnius, deacon of the church of Bonavern and Conchessa, sister to the celebrated Martin, archbishop of Tours. At his tender age, Conchessa, instilled into Succat’s heart the doctrines of Christianity.

At sixteen years of age, Succat was captured by a band of Scottish slave-dealing pirates who sold him to the Druid chieftain, Milcho, who reigned in the north of Ireland. For six years Patrick herded the cattle of this ruthless pagan chieftain. Alone and in the solitary pasture, Succat, ‘the young slave called to mind the divine lessons which his pious mother had so often read to him.’ Like the prodigal son, in the heathen land, he surrendered his life to the meek Saviour of whom Conchessa had so often spoken. Patrick’s “Confession” tells us the summary of his conversion: “When I was a youth, I was taken captive before I knew what I should desire or seek, or what I ought to shun.” He met the Saviour in his servitude in the bleak forest of Northern Ireland and it is argued that God might have used the weird Druid ceremonies to inspired him become a missionary to the heathen people.

Patrick came as a slave to a country which was ‘spiritual but had a spirituality which lacked roots.’ St Patrick stirred up the Celtic beliefs within the Irish people with purity in Biblical doctrine. St Patrick, a Bible-reading, Bible-believing, Bible-preaching missionary changed the course of the world’s history with the Celtic Christianity shaping the destinies of the Church of the West. St Patrick challenged the “royal authority by lighting the Paschal fire on the hill of Slane on the night of Easter Eve … the occasion of a pagan festival at Tara, during which no fire might be kindled until the royal fire had been lit.” Anointed and filled with Holy Spirit, St Patrick challenged the king, the druid priest, and all the forces of hell and the flame of revival sweep over all Ireland with tears of repentance. In the year 428 A. D Easter morning, St Patrick and his assistant missionaries marched into the presence of the monarch and told him that ‘Christ was the light of the world and preached Jesus crucified and risen from the dead with such persuasive eloquence that the king was born again by the Spirit of the living God.’ John L. Stoddard states: “During the sixth, seventh and eighth centuries, especially, this farthest boundary of the Continent held aloft and kept aflame the torch of Christian faith, and glittered like a star upon the dark horizon of the western world.’ Just as St Patrick lifted the Irish out of the darkness of paganism into the glorious light of the Truth, St Patrick’s Day in Lent calls for a special spiritual flame in our hearts to set the church free from secularism. This flame of Christ that burns deep down within our souls connecting us to the deep spirituality of our Christian root.

St Patrick‘s Day in Lent is re-telling the true story of St Patrick, a practical theologian with an inspiring lesson in God’s grace and mercy. St Patrick’s Day in Lent is reclaiming the Great mission and missionary identity of the Church. As a slave who became an evangelist, he wrote, ‘but I fear nothing, because of the promises of heaven.’ St Patrick’s Day in Lent is about a choice between heaven and hell. St Patrick, a missionary to a forgotten people came ahead of his time but left a true Biblical legacy. St Patrick’s Day in Lent reminds us that the world and the church needs leaders like St Patrick. Let us pray for the afflicted and sorrowful.

LENT DAY 39: OVERCOMING ‘PRIDE IN SIN’: From the materialistic sins of lust and gluttony and move up to avarice, sloth, anger, envy and finally to the crowning and most spiritual sin of pride, the reflection is that, every sin damages. In the beginning, Adam and Eve decided to act on the serpent’s lie and chose to use their reasoning (Gen 3). Ananias and Sapphira tried to act more faster and intelligent by using their brain, they died on the spot (Acts 5). Apart from death, some other consequences normally distorts the life of sinners and backsliders. The shame of sinful action always brings fear hence, we seek to hide from God, thereby loosing our ‘ambassadorial’ position to become a refugee. The transition from Eden into a world of difference changes our identity, values, and culture. Essentially, sin, backsliding, and compromise damages identity, values and relationships. Like the Laodicean church, the church damaged identity includes the fear to tell people the consequence of sin and the need for salvation.

The church is becoming more of a social agency replicating the secular and therapeutic services, and the result is a growing rejection of sin by the modern society. Sin is therefore reduced to “problems” that can be fixed by medical professionals, psychologists and counsellors. In a secular world, ‘pride in sin,’ is a common talk show. When we deny the serious consequences of sins, we wear sins as an authenticity badge and lose the opportunity to derive true identity from God. Lent invite us to renew our relationship with God and others from fear and mistrust to love and trust. Lent summons us to renounce all appearance of sin and pride. A true repentance from sin recognises the real harm, carnage, and hurt sins wreak in the lives of others hence, forgiveness does not rules out the hard work of rendering restitution or reconciliation with others. Lent as a journey to the Cross points to God’s provision for our redemption and cleansing. Let us pray for all Christian publishers, Radio and Television stations.

LENT DAY 40: The Triumphant Lent: The first Palm Sunday was a complete reversal of the violent invasions we know from history. The invasion of Jerusalem 2000 years ago provides a good opportunity for Christians to reflect on the purpose and identity of the church in a culture that craves entertainment and material prosperity. Palm Sunday is Good News and a prophetic portrait of spiritual awakening. The shout of Hosanna is a prayer for spiritual awakening and shouts of praise as Jesus enters our homes, churches and cities with His presence and power. Palm Sunday is a time to stir people to ask and know more about Jesus. Palm Sunday provides the opportunity to proclaim to the world the One Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The promise of Palm Sunday is fulfilled by proclaiming the prophetic picture of the spiritual awakening Jesus Christ desires for homes, the church and communities everywhere. Palm Sunday offers a model of peaceful invasion and empowerment of ordinary people for the second coming of Jesus.

Let us reflect on the actors of the first Palm Sunday and see where we belong. The role of the crowd in the peaceful invasion cannot be overlooked. The crowd are not the powerful, the outcast, the beggar, the sick, the poor in the Spirit, those who recognised Jesus as the King (Matt 21:8-, Mk 11:8). The crowd are ‘humble enough to recognise their own neediness, happy to acknowledge that Jesus is greater than they are. It is not the Pharisees and the religious leaders who are acknowledging Jesus as King but the ordinary people.’ Palm Sunday is not just a ritual but a time to empower our members and communities – giving a voice to those who were crying out to be saved. The crowd are people crying for salvation, shouting to Jesus ‘Hosanna,’ the Hebrew word ‘save us’. Dear friend, who are you in the Palm Sunday Story? Are you just as religious leader like the Pharisees with cold and closed heart to Jesus? Are you like the disciples who were so confused by what God is doing and how He is doing it? What about the donkey? If God can us a donkey, He can use you and me. The donkey’s preparation for royal service is a guide for us. The challenge is that, there are many donkeys, disciples, Christ-bearers tied down by greed, pride, unbelief, and others things of this world. Triumphant Lent is a peaceful invasion in our churches to be released into mission and evangelism through the undiluted Word of God.

Triumphant Lent invites us to join the Jesus’ peaceful invasion, a spiritual awakening ‘that recognises the poor in spirit – the ordinary people who recognise their own neediness – the Kingdom of heaven is near.’ The Triumphant Lent is about the the Good News for the redemption of the world, especially for those who feel insignificant, those who have been in church but not in Christ, those who have been watching and listening from the sidelines like the donkey. Triumphant Lent is more than a time of kids with palm branches and conversation about donkeys, but a time to follow and walk with Jesus through the way of the Cross in Public Square. Let us pray for our church choir, worship leaders and Christian singers.

LENT DAY 41: PASSION OF TRIUMPHANT LENT: The passion of Triumphant Lent is death of our old life, an invitation to confront our lives difficult realities. The passion of Jesus towards Lazarus that says ‘Unbind him, and let him go’ led to Jesus’ own death. At the command of Jesus, when Lazarus stepped out of the tomb, he was still bound in his stinky burial bandages. You can come out of your tomb of pain, depression, fear and worry in Jesus name. You only need to have a relationship with Jesus like Lazarus so that when he called you by name you will be able to respond humbly. The voice you respond to could determine how long you will stay in your tomb. Passion in Lent is not just retelling a story but living a life trumping death; experiencing hope in shadowy hours of grief and despair; experiencing a God that is not only for us , but a God that is with us – EMMANUEL. The passion in the wilderness of Lent is anticipation and participation in the triumphant and resurrection mission and power of Jesus.

Mary and Martha anticipated the raising of Lazarus by Jesus, the miracle worker. Mary and Martha, together with their guests (the community) participated in God’s restorative, redemptive and resurrection mission by removing the human and cultural blockages just as Jesus commanded those standing around Lazarus tomb to move the stone blocking the tomb. The reflection for the church is that the leadership and membership are to collaborate in the passion and command to unbind the church for mission and evangelism. Passion of Triumphant Lent is rolling the stone away, the stone of unbelief, the stone of ignorance, the stone of spiritual blindness, and the stone of familiarity. The Marys and Marthas in the church leadership cannot do it alone without Jesus, and the members are also helpless without obedience to the Word of God. The truth is that a church or a person in a Christless condition could experience decline and death like Lazarus.

One can be out of the tomb but dead to real living because of the stinky burial bandages that binds and limits fruitful mission and discipleship. The burial bandages are man-made. Jesus directed the community: ‘unbind him, and let him go.’ The truth is that, the church is under different bandages and bondage. The body of Christ is to help stripping off the binding remnants of the old life. What are the strips of cloth and lifestyles that bind us, the pride, addictions and fears and feeling of hopelessness and loss? To ‘unbind him, and let him go,’ is a command to roll away anything that blocks us from seeing what trapped us in sin or hidden away in places of death and unbelief. It is a charge to unbind and let go all those bound up in institutions, relationships, systems, beliefs, cultures and attitude that leads to death and decline. The passion of Lent is to bear the image of God in Christ like the passion of Jesus towards Lazarus. Using the words of Nancy Pearcey, the passion of Triumphant Lent is about ‘liberating Christianity from its cultural captivity.’ Passion of Triumphant Lent is about the ‘warmed heart’ that must be restored as it happened to Lazarus after 4 days in the tomb and dry bone in the valley of decision. Passion in lent is living a renewed life, life above death and decline like the humble donkey, released into God’ mission as Christ-bearer to the world. Let us pray for all our service men and women and their families especially those in conflict areas.

LENT DAY 42: A FATE THAT AWAITS THE CHURCH: The Holy Week, that is, the last week, of Jesus’ earthly ministry was filled with drama for heaven and earth. After his triumphant entry to Jerusalem, Jesus returned to the temple and found the court of the Gentile full of traders and money changers making large profit, drove them out and overturned their tables and benches (Matt 21, Mk 11, Lk 19). Jesus cleansed the temple and John’s Gospel also records that he rebuked the unbelief of the crowds. The first cleansing of the temple by Jesus was based on the insult and evil acts of the people and against God. Jesus ‘eaten up’ with righteous anger against such flagrant disrespect for God dealt wholeheartedly against the people (Jn 2:13-17). Many commentators think the cleansing happened only once, but with Jesus’zeal for His Father’s house, there is good reason to believe Jesus did the cleansing twice to fulfil Malachi’s prophecy (Mal 3:1-3). It could also likely be that the people had returned after Jesus left hence, the need for the second cleansing (Mk 11). The temple, has become a fig tree without fruit. This picture may not sit well with those who regard Christ as a ‘gentle Jesus,’ forgetting that he is a Jesus of love with righteousness.

On the lessons taught by Jesus’ cleansing of the temple, Hendriksen states that Jesus punished degradation of religion and insisted on reverence. According to him, Jesus rebuked fraud, ‘religious’ racketeering. Jesus frowned upon people’s indifference toward those who desired to worship God in Spirit and Truth, and, by declaring that the temple must be a house of prayer for all the nations. To Jesus, meekness is strength under control (Matt 11:29; 5:5).

Jesus objected to the trading practice, ‘merchandise’ on the premises of the temple as a perversion of the purpose of the temple hence, he said the temple is to be ‘a house of prayer,’ – worship and spiritual service and not a place of making financial gain by modern day ‘faith-healers.’ Lent calls us to distinguish between worship activities and merchandise and the urgency to overcome the perversion of the purpose of the temple. The challenge is that ‘when God gives a spiritual purpose to … an ordinance, we displease Him greatly when we change that purpose to another purpose, especially to a purpose that is materialistic or physical in emphasis to satisfy human desires instead of giving Him honour and praise.’ The principle is that the church must be Bible compliant for all we do (Matt 15:9, 13, 2 Jn 9-11, Col 3:17, Jer 10:3). The moral and religious depravity of the religious leaders prompted Jesus’actions. To Jesus, the temple has become ‘a den of robbers,’ the bandits’ hideout, a place of security and refuge where robbers retreat to share their loots. The temple has become a place where people gather to receive divine forgiveness and positions regardless of how they live on the outside.

The reflection is that the cleansing of the temple points to prophetic sign acts that warns against impending judgement. The cleansing of the temple illustrates the extent to which the Jewish leadership had gone in losing contact with God’s purpose for the temple and God’s people. The general corruption of the High Priesthood and the religious leadership is evidenced by the fact that they responded to Jesus’ zeal for the sanctity of the temple by deciding to kill him. Lent speaks to us to reflect on numerous declarations, actions and inaction of our refusal to accept Jesus’ identity and authority. Lent, as journey to the Cross offers us opportunity for repentance by changing and overturning our institutional/cultural benches and tables of authority and leadership. Lent is about enough is enough of spiritual deception and perversion of worship and purpose of the church. Lent is a reminder that there is a fate that awaits the church hence, the need for overturning of our stands and actions for fruitfulness. Let us pray for lecturers in our seminaries and universities.

LENT DAY 43: LENT IN PARABLES: Jesus again returns to Jerusalem where he is confronted by the chief priests and elders for overturning their benches and tables. The temple leaders questioned Jesus’ authority because they struggle to come to terms with his ministry. In the Jewish context, the chief priests and elders believe there is no other human authority above their own authority, not to talk of a poor refugee, a carpenter son hence, their question to Jesus: “by what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” (Matt 21: 23). The temple leaders in their bid to trap Jesus are expecting the name of a teacher; a human association that will justify their attack on Jesus. For Jesus, it was indeed a day of confrontation, controversy and parables as he evaded the traps set by his accusers. Jesus did not answer the question by the temple leaders because they were displaying piety without righteousness. They could never be satisfied with any answer because of their garment of self-esteem and righteousness. Jesus comforted himself in the face of human confrontations.

The rejection of Jesus is an act of unrighteousness just like the rejection of the Word of God. The temple builders and leaders rejected the cornerstone. According to Calvin Miller, the cornerstone ‘cannot be fully understand … in the content of modern architectural procedure.’ Jesus teaches extensively using parables and other forms to ‘give reproof, speak plainly to the offenders, and judge them out of their own mouths.’ For example, Jesus as the cornerstone, the standard and centre of faith was too difficult for self-righteous people to accept. The parable about a man who told both of his sons to work in the vineyard speaks on the need for the leaders actions to match their words. It is hypocrisy to pretend to obey God when our hearts are far from him. The temple leaders covered with their robes of serious philosophy shows sign of true spiritual blindness by their plot to kill Jesus after listening to the parable of the wicked farmers. The Good News to the crowd was bad news for the power brokers.

Jesus’ counter-question is essentially the same as the question of his own authority and origin. (Matthew 3:1-17). The reflection is that ‘those who acknowledge the divine origin of John’s authority will likewise acknowledge the divine origin of Jesus’ authority, while those who fail to identify the authority of John will fail to identify the authority of Jesus.’ The chief priests and elders failed Jesus’ counter-question. What begins as attack on Jesus became a trap for his accusers. The reflection is how do we respond to the challenge of the authority of the Word of God over our human and cultural claims?

Lent awakens us not to reduce ‘Jesus’ authority to human terms (and interpretations) as the chief priests and elders, placing him on par with ourselves, and reinforcing the very status quo Jesus seeks to transform.’ Lent calls us to stop reinforcing the very sinful human status quo that Jesus seeks to transform through his Word. The understanding of the temple by the chief priest and elders as a human institution among other human institutions suggests a church in rival, trying to reduce the church mission to the quest for power and self interest. Lent calls for practice of piety with the fruit of righteousness and devotion to the authority of Christ for a changed life. Lent through the power of the Holy Spirit offers us a new opportunity to repent from ‘the look-alike uniforms of conformity’ with the world. Lent calls us not to repeat the failure of the ancient theologian who rejected their summons to salvation and eternal banquet. Lent is a time to ask ourselves what Jesus’ defining parables means to you and me, and the church. Remember, Jerusalem and the temple leaders had their day, this is yours. May it not be said that you entered into judgement because you didn’t know the day of your visitation.

Let us intercede for the number of Islamic state networks posing threat that they will come to encounter the love of Christ.

LENT DAY 44: BETRAYAL OF LOVE AND LENT: Today is the Maundy Thursday and like other Christian celebrations, the church not only remember, but renew its identity and mission in the world. On Holy/Maundy Thursday, Jesus had given instructions to the disciples on how to prepare for the holy meal in the upper room, which will be his last supper, the Lord’s Supper. Today we unite ourselves with Jesus in the upper room of our hearts, to share in his body and blood and also to experience not only the ritual of washing the feet, but a renewal of our hearts. John’s alone of the gospel has the footwashing to set example for us of service to others. Alyce McKenzie’s contribution is very helpful for us in this reflection. She explained that, a deeper reason we don’t want Jesus handling our feet is because to allow Jesus to touch our feet is to allow him to touch our will. According to her, ‘we all have a mind; we all have emotions; and we all have a will—our decision making power. Our feet are how we put our decisions in motion and get places, do things. We can think about doing something. To allow Jesus to cleanse our feet is to remove all that prevents us from using our feet to follow him. To scrub away our insecurities, to wash away our weariness, to buff off our bitterness.’ The reflection is that we cannot effectively fellowship with the Lord as Christians with unwashed feet, that is, without humble, honest and confession of sin.

The disciples were in power race, jealous of one another, competing for the best place (Matt 18:1-5). Their view of the kingdom was influenced by carnal, political thinking. They were in competition and their mind was not on conversion of people (Mk 9:34). The spirit of competition is the dominant spirit of in every age. The spirit of competition incites men to strive to be better, and superior than their fellows, not to follow or grow up into the likeness of Jesus, is the dominant spirit of this world (Mk 9:34-35). Competition is not a valid way to work for God. We need conversion from pride to humility, from worldly ambition to spiritual ambition, from godlessness to godliness. Merrill Tenney in his book, ‘John: The Gospel of Belief,’ provides a helpful contribution on the disciples competing spirit. According to him, ‘they were ready to fight for a throne, but not for a towel.’ The love that Jesus showed in washing the disciples feet is the love God showed for us in our creation and salvation. God left His throne to come to our low level, kneeling to wash our feet, peradventure this action influenced Peter’s response to Jesus stooping at his feet.

Jesus came to inaugurate the Kingdom of God, God’s way of being. Peter’s unwillingness to allow Jesus to wash his feet explicate our denial, betrayal, and slowness to comprehend the Truth and God’s Kingdom. Unwashed feet is comparable to a Christian trying to walk with the Lord, study the Word, pray, or serve Him with known sin in the life, like the sin of pride and unbelief. Betrayal of love is betraying the essence of Lent. We betray God’s love and the Lent when we betray God’s way of being, His order and command, by competing, gossiping, and fighting among ourselves. We betray God’s love when we do away with God’s Word for the Barabbas and things of this world (Luke 3:18). Lent challenges us not to trade our faith and salvation for the chief priests, for money and human institutions. The Kingdom of God is not about flesh and meat.. Lent invites us to repent, to kneel, to humble ourselves and sit at the feet of Jesus for direction and inspiration. Lent calls us to repent from betraying Jesus again by following him according to his Word. Today like 2000 years ago, Jesus still kneels waiting for us with a basin of water and a towel, ready to serve us with love as we partake in his flesh and blood.

Belgium is observing the second day of mourning and a minute’s silence at midday; let us remember the families of the victims, those with wounds, the medial workers, security agents and other volunteers in our prayers. Let us intercede for the number of Islamic state networks and members posing threats that they will come to encounter the love of Christ.

LENT DAY 45: BEYOND FUNERAL LITURGY: Following the betrayal, arrest, desertion, false trial, denial, condemnation, beatings, and mockery of Jesus, Pilate bowed to the pressure of the temple leadership and the crowds, and Jesus was nailed to the cross. Today we acknowledge the power of the cross in our lives with a consideration how the apostles might have gathered that night 2000 years ago together in fear and prayer reflecting on all that happened.

This year’s Good Friday reminds of the terrorists deadly attacks around the world. From the global reactions and condemnations, how do we reflect on the deadly crimes in the light of Jesus Christ’s passion? We are parts of the Good Friday story at different times and stages of our lives – weeping like Mary, denying Jesus like Peter, betraying Jesus like Judas, taking comfort and glory in our nation and position rather than God like the crowds and chief priests. The truth is that the experience, the grief and despair of the Good Friday story could be difficult to handle for the 12 disciples hence, two unknown disciples – Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were at the foot of the cross after Jesus dies. It is observed that ‘where Judas betrayed Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea claims Jesus’ body. Where Peter denied Jesus, Nicodemus gathers burial spices and heads to the tomb.’ The tragedy of the first Good Friday became a triumphant Resurrection rather than any mode of a funeral liturgy because of the roles played by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. The compassion and action taken by Joseph and Nicodemus both men of power, privilege and wealth signals a change in their own discipleship as they clearly break with the rest of the Jewish leadership. God has never left Himself without a witness (Acts 14:17). As members of the Sanhedrin, it is possible that Joseph and Nicodemus had dissented from the vote to kill Jesus and now looking unto him and mourning. The reflection is that nobody is beyond God’s mercy and salvation including the Josephs and Nicodemus in Islamic State and terrorist networks. As we think of the Brussels and other terrorist attack victims and their families, we together in prayer lift them up and especially for the terrorists to encounter God’s love.

Luke tells the story of Good Friday from the viewpoint of the participants and their different responses to the cross. While some responded in sorrow, some in ignorance, some in shameless indifference like the soldiers. The soldiers could only take a few pieces of clothing from the cross, no changed hearts, no changed visions, no changed lives and no knowledge of a Saviour. At Golgotha, a dying thief despite open mockery of the crowds confessed Jesus, a dying king, as his Saviour. The response of the dying thief to the cross gave direction to his eternal life. According to Evelyn Underhill, ‘what we think about the Cross means ultimately what we think about life.’ We are called to journey with Jesus to the cross. At the cross, the powerful words of Christ comes alive to us as forgiven people with a word of hope in the darkest hour and place of the cross. In Jesus’ family, everybody is a relative hence he said, ‘woman, behold your son: son behold your mother.’ The cross calls us to listen to sound of peoples suffering and respond to those who are thirsty. The words of Jesus ‘it is finished,’ is a positive cry of triumph, it is accomplished and mission fulfilled, task completed for our salvation and forgiveness. Jesus did not say ‘I am finished,’ what is finished is the price paid for our salvation and reunion with the Father (Jn 3:14-7; 17:4). The finished work of Christ is our new beginning, source of our motivation. Charles Wesley in one of his great hymns based on the narratives of Jesus’ crucifixion illustrates a good reflection on Good Friday beyond a funeral liturgy: ’O Love divine, what hast thou done! The immortal God hath died for me! The Father’s co-eternal Son, Bore all my sins upon the tree; The immortal God for me hath died! My Lord, my love is crucified…. Is crucified for me and you, To bring us rebels back to God; Believe, believe the record true, We are bought with Jesus’ blood, Pardon for all flows from his side; My Lord, my Love is crucified. Then let us stand beneath the Cross; And feel his love a healing stream, All things for him account but loss, And give up all our hearts to him; Of nothing think or speak beside: My Lord, my Love is crucified.’

LENT DAY 46: BEATITUDE BEYOND LENT: God’s self-manifestation is neither an idea nor a principle of theological thinking, rather, it is located in the highly particular path of Jesus Christ, especially the Beatitude. God’s beauty is not abstract, but personal, incarnate: in Jesus, the beauty of God ‘takes form’. For ‘only that which has form can snatch one up into a state of rapture.’ Alan Lewis’ work, ‘Between Cross and Resurrection: A theology of Holy Saturday.’ provides a good theological and biblical narrative (hearing the story), doctrine (thinking the story), and ethics (living the story). Lewis work rooted in Christian experience calls us to a Christ-centred approach that defies the individualism, nationalism, and group conflicts nurtured by a “secular pluralism.” Beatitude as summary of the path of Christ, provides us a perfect happiness and love to imitate, though this may seems foolishness to the world. We are used to reflecting on ‘Golgotha’ experiences and ‘Resurrection’ experience, Beatitude of Lent is living the story and the experience of Holy Saturday in our everyday life. To overcome the contemporary ‘idolatry of self reliance,’ philosophical and triumphalist distortions of the biblical message, Beatitude beyond Lent summons us to hear anew, ponder well, and live out the story of the Son of God’s passage to Resurrection and eternal life. Beatitude beyond Lent is about hearing the story, thinking the story, retelling, and living the story that tells the Truth of the ‘Holy Saturday’ theme in its theological, ethical, liturgical, and personal applications

Beatitude beyond Lent is about school of Jesus’ spirituality that awakens us to our Christian life as a journey towards God’s mission, discipleship and evangelism. We are called as companions in Jesus’ mission until the world is filled with God’s glory. Jesus’ self descriptions in the Beatitudes provides us a mirror and model to follow beyond our journey between the cross and Resurrection. As companions in Jesus mission, we receive the Beatitude as pathway as we find in St. Matthew’s Gospel, chapters 5, 6 and 7.

Beatitude beyond Lent as the secret of true happiness shows us the face of Jesus like a mirror in which we are to see ourselves. Jesus with no place to lay his head was poor, empty of all spiritual pride, knowing that spiritual pride is the spirit of this age of which Satan is god (2 Cor 4). Jesus for our sake, wept for our sin, meek and pure in heart. The pure in heart with a newly created heart have room for only one master, Jesus Christ (Matt 6:24). The meek are not weak, they are strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Eph 6:11). Jesus made himself hungry and thirsty for justice and our salvation. Beatitude of Lent is not about the passing happiness and fleeting pleasures of this world (1 Jn 2:16-17). Beatitude of Lent points us to the righteousness of God in Christ as against the human vain effort to establish our own righteousness by works of human law which in the sight of God is ‘filthy rags’ (Rom 10:1-3, Is 64:6).

Beatitude beyond Lent is motivated by the heavenly reward. It takes a ‘beatitude spirit to experience theological pilgrimage from the foot of the cross to the garden tomb and through the darkness of Holy Saturday to the wonderful light of Resurrection.’ Hans Urs von Balthasar’s work explains the path between the Cross and Resurrection and brings to life that stirring line in the Apostle’s Creed: “He descended into hell.” According to Balthasar this ‘path is often an experience of abandonment and of diminishment,’ and this unfolds the paschal mystery at its most redemptive and compassionate focus. What it is to be in the Hell defies all poetic or philosophical description and legislation ‘but an entering into the innermost structure of limitation and death.’

Jesus descended as the ultimate disclosure of the triumph of love hence, Holy Saturday is the process of the transformation of the tragedy of human existence: it is the experience of God descending into the depths of that which is lost and hopeless, opening up a way for us through the very powers that would otherwise destroy us.’ Balthasar writes: The Word descends vertically from the highest height, deeper than any mere human word can descend, into the last futility of empty time and hopeless death.’ Hell is hopeless death, heaven is remediable death. In agreement with Balthasar, the foundation of all of our theology of hope and redemption is that Jesus himself was led to this place in order to find us there hence, the limitation of the contemporary Christian thought that rejects the idea of punishment as incompatible with belief in a loving God (Jn 3:16, Heb 2:14). Let us pray for the lonely and bereaved.

EASTER DAY: JESUS’ RESURRECTION, THE CURE OF DEATH: Jesus called Lazarus and he came out of the grave and almost a week later, Mary, though not in the darkness of the grave, she was in darkness of familiarity, mourning, frustration and loss, when her life goes on in different direction. The miracle of Resurrection started when Jesus called Mary by her name and she knew who he was, not based on the past familiarity but now as the living Lord. Two related factors delayed her recognition of Christ. One was her unexpectancy, and the other was her preoccupation. Mary was preoccupied with her past experience, her beautiful memories of Jesus – the man, for whom she grieve and painful memories for whom she bleed. She wanted to find Jesus’ body in Joseph’s garden, in the tomb where it had been placed, she did not expect him to be walking around outside the tomb. Mary was totally disappointed, Jesus’ appearance to her was totally unexpected, and at first she did not recognise him hence, she calls Jesus, Rabboni, his Friday name, on Resurrection day. The reflection is that Jesus is not limited by and to human calculations and denominational boxes and tomb of traditions/ideologies, but in personal encounter with the Risen Lord. Many are reluctant to recognise and accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour because his story did not fit in to their human interpretation and expectation. Resurrection is not a form of re-animation of a person after death, Christ resurrected life is our model and divine energy for mission.

After the resurrection encounter, Jesus gave Mary the first command to proclaim and preach to Jesus’ disciples, death had been defeated. She was to proclaim resurrection as the cure of spiritual and physical death. The effect of proclamation and preaching of Jesus’ resurrection without its personal encounter is comparable to a driver performing surgical operation in the hospital theatre room hence death and decline in churches. Not all Israel is Israel; ethnic Israel is different from true Israel (Rom 9:6). God brings into being the true Israel by ‘sending his Son, Jesus Christ, as the true Seed of Abraham, the true Son of David, and, in a profound sense, the true Israel himself. Jesus fulfilled all that Israel was destined for. And now every person, Jew or Gentile, who trusts in Christ, is united to him and becomes part of this true Israel in Christ.’
Mary was close to Jesus but could not recognise him until the encounter, she took Jesus for a gardner. Are you still taking Jesus to be a gardner like Mary? John Wesley was in the ministry, institutionally licensed without the encounter until May 24, 1738, when he felt his heart strangely warmed. Resurrection calls us to stop focusing on the empty Tomb of our familiarity and those thing that hinder us from hearing what the gardner is saying. Resurrection is the life-giving love of God that is always ready to move the stones that keep life at bay away in the tomb. Resurrection is the new breath of God that creates new life; a call to stop weeping like Mary because of your past loss.

The cure of death through Jesus’ resurrection as the answer to the pray ‘Thy Kingdom come,’ is the uniqueness of Christian faith we are called to bear witness to as Christians. The cure of death according to William Bill Self is not the artificial grass at the cemetery or the ‘makeup on the corpse in preparing it for the viewing,’ He explained that ‘we deny death with our language,’ and we camouflage death and run from it by daily exercise, taking our vitamins, and regular appointment with doctors. The truth remains, Jesus’ Resurrection as the heart and power for effective ministry, discipleship, and leadership is the cure of death and an assurance that Jesus is coming again. Resurrection is about new creation, change and deliverance from our hidden places and upper rooms of ego, fear, death and unforgiveness. Jesus’ resurrection calls us to the new life on the other side of the tomb. The stone has been rolled away. No more weeping, it is time to open our eyes to the truth. Jesus’ resurrection calls us like Mary into usefulness, mission and evangelism, to go and tell others and those in the upper rooms of tradition, philosophy, anger, unforgiveness, and unbelief that Jesus is risen. Resurrection is about God’s kingdom on earth, meeting the need of the world, as it is in heaven. Using the words of Karl Marx, without Resurrection ‘Christianity is a wish-fulfilling religion.’ Remember, true Resurrection is the cure of death and the pointer to Jesus’ Second Coming. ARE YOU PREPARED? Let us pray and ask God for His Resurrection power to visit us and take us out of our upper rooms, our hidden places, and tombs.

WHAT NEXT? I greet you in the name of our Risen Lord. Halleluyah! Easter is over. I’d like to thank you for joining me and other pilgrims as we journeyed through the Lenten/Easter season. The question is, what next? To carry on the spiritual momentum we developed during Lent and Easter is to reawaken our daily spiritual practices and call to discipleship. On this Easter Monday, the Gospel presents to us the narrative of Mary who, on arriving at Jesus’ tomb found it empty, and with others were commanded to ‘Go and tell….’ Resurrection is our gospel inspired by the Holy Spirit to others, so that everyone might encounter Jesus, the Risen Lord, present and working in history. The happy news of the Resurrection should shine in our faces, in our feelings and attitudes, in the way we treat others. The hope Jesus brought us is to deepen and ignite our spiritual life and impact, especially as we prepare for Jesus’ Second Coming. HAPPY EASTER! Thank you and God bless.