The Bright Wilderness

Welcome to our reflections each week of the season of Lent. The aim is to include a Scripture focus, some music to listen to while pondering a reflection question, a "new habit" challenge as well as a prayer. Use what suits you and each week delve into turning from desert distraction toward the light of purpose.

Holy Week: The Way of the Cross

Monday 30 March to Easter Sunday 5 April

The Final Surrender

St Paul wrote to the Philippians:

"And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!" - Philippians 2:8

As we reach this part of the Lent journey facing the foot of the Cross. We are reminded about a God who "emptied Himself" for us. We call to mind one of the agricultural metaphors which Jesus used in his teachings from John 12:24-25:

"Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

George Herbert wrote the following poem entitled, "Love (III)"

Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning, If I lacked any thing. A guest, I answered, worthy to be here: Love said, You shall be he. I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear, I cannot look on thee. Love took my hand, and smiling did reply, Who made the eyes but I? Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame Go where it doth deserve. And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame? My dear, then I will serve. You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat: So I did sit and eat.

Through this reading we see the beautiful struggle of a soul trying to be "worthy," but realise that we are the "guilty" guest. The key for us is to know that Love has already paid our debt, and that Love (Christ) insists on serving us.

Listen to "Lead Me to the Cross" by Hillsong United

As we listen to Lead Me to the Cross, we notice that taking up new habits was not about becoming "better people," but about becoming more like the One who gave everything so we could have everything.

The challenge for Holy Week is to complete an Evening Examen. This is a nightly review of where you saw God (Consolation) and where you felt distant (Desolation). The aim is to help us see that the Cross is not just a historical event, but it is a daily reality. We can walk through our own "stations" of the day, with our own highs and lows, and see that Jesus was in both.

We end Lent not tired, but filled.

Let us pray

Lord Jesus, as we walk through this Holy Week, we are humbled by the Cross. Thank You for a love that was willing to suffer for our sake. As we look back on these past weeks, we see how You have been pruning our hearts to make room for New Life. Help us to stay at the foot of the Cross, knowing that the story does not end in the tomb, but in the glory of the Resurrection. Amen.

Week 6: The Threshold of the Heart

Monday 23 March to Sunday 29 March

Moving from Giving to Receiving.

Last week, in Week 5, we focused on giving (the Simple Table challenge). But during Week 6 we need to approach the Cross to learn from Christ. This week is about focusing on us as the individual to receive. Let us have a read of Luke 10:38-42:

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’

Here Martha was doing a "good thing" by serving. She is doing things that are useful and important, but she recognises that she is being distracted and talks to Jesus about it. She is bringing her solution to Jesus. Here Jesus teaches her (and us) about doing the "best thing" by simply sitting at Jesus' feet listening.

Wendell Berry writes a beautiful line in the poem, “The Peace of Wild Things”, which we can read here:

When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

The poem reminds us that the world "taxes" us with worry about things we cannot control. Often, our "service" can become a way to avoid being still with God. Reflect on, "Are you serving God to avoid looking Him in the eye? "

Take some time to sit with the lyrics and performance of Jason Upton, resting in the moment, drawing closer to God, despite the busyness of life. Before we can walk the Way of the Cross, we must be able to sit quietly at His feet. We move from the "doing" of the hands to the "being" of the soul.

The challenge this week is to find 24 hours (or from sundown one day to sundown the next day) to turn off all non-essential screens. No social media, no streaming, no gaming, no TV / YouTube or streaming media watching. Use the reclaimed time to sit, read, or walk in nature. Notice the things and people round about you. Pray for them. The goal is to "un-tax" your life from the noise of the world before entering the gravity of Holy Week.

Let us pray:

Lord of the Stillness, forgive us for being "worried and upset about many things" when only one thing is needed. As we stand on the threshold of Holy Week, help us to lay down our lists, our achievements, and our distractions. Like Mary, we want to choose what is better: to simply be with You. Thank You for the "peace of wild things" and the grace that requires nothing from us but our presence. Prepare our hearts to walk with You to Jerusalem. Amen.

Week 5: Stewardship & Sacrifice

Monday 16 March to Sunday 22 March

Loosening the Grip

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 5 to 7 are accounts of the Sermon on the Mount, which records the teachings of Jesus in regard to a number of topics, like prayer, fasting, worry and serving two masters. This week we are going to consider Matthew chapter 6 verses 19 to 21, which says:

‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. - Matthew 6:19-21

So often during Lent we focus on ourselves and look for ways to improve our relationship with God, drawing closer to God and sacrificing things in our own lives to demonstrate our obedience. The reading encourages us to "store up" treasures, but ones that cannot be destroyed. So, what does that look like? The last verse lays it out plainly for us:

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The "heart" in biblical language is not emotion alone. It also refers to the centre of desire, will, and devotion. Jesus is saying, your investments reveal and shape your deepest loyalties. Reflect on what the heart of God may be today? Who is God's treasure?

Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) wrote the following entitled, Good Friday:  

Am I a stone, and not a sheep, That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross, To number drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss, And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee; Not so fallen Peter, weeping bitterly; Not so the thief was moved; Not so the Sun and Moon Which hid their faces in a starless sky, A horror of great darkness at broad noon – I, only I.

Yet give not o’er, But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock; Greater than Moses, turn and look once more And smite a rock.

If we treasure only our own comfort, our hearts will be small. Christina Rossetti’s poem asks why we are sometimes "stone" while the rest of creation grieves. Brandon Heath’s Give Me Your Eyes serves as challenge and a prayer for us to widen our view and make others our treasure. To see the person on the street corner or the lonely girl in the Bay Cafe not as a "problem," but as a person worthy of our sacrifice. Have a listen here:

According to Matthew 22:37-40, the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. A second, equally important commandment is to love your neighbour as yourself.  Lent gives us time to improve our love of God, focusing on wherever we might be weak - heart, soul or mind. But we cannot ignore the second commandment, so here is the challenge this week...

Let us pray:

Jesus, You gave everything so that we might have life. Everything we own is a gift from Your hand. As we simplify our lives and share our resources this week, help us to loosen my grip on 'things' and tighten our grip on You. Give us eyes to see the needs of the world and a heart big enough to respond with courage and generosity. Amen.

Week 4: The Art of Stillness

Monday 9 March to Sunday 15 March

Theme: The Power of the Pause

Here are words from the First book of Kings, detailing the story of Elijah finding himself in a challenging situation and seeking God's guidance. This is how he heard the voice of the Lord.

He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him, - 1 Kings 19:11-13

We live in a "single-minded" rush, barely taking time to get to know ourselves in God, without external influences. Elijah found that God was not in the spectacular (fire/wind) but in the "whisper." How much time do we take from our day to be in silence, a moment between lessons, a quiet space at lunch, the car drive home, a moment before bedtime in our room with no distractions? When does the "whisper" from God get through? Read the poem below by Pablo Neruda and translated by Alastair Reid:

Keeping Quiet by Pablo Neruda

English version by Alastair Reid (Original Language Spanish)

Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still. For once on the face of the earth let's not speak in any language, let's stop for one second, and not move our arms so much. It would be an exotic moment without rush, without engines, we would all be together in a sudden strangeness. Fishermen in the cold sea would not harm whales and the man gathering salt

Those who prepare green wars, wars with gas, wars with fire, victory with no survivors, would put on clean clothes and walk about with their brothers in the shade, doing nothing. What I want should not be confused with total inactivity. Life is what it is about; I want no truck with death.

If we were not so single-minded about keeping our lives moving, and for once could do nothing, perhaps a huge silence might interrupt this sadness of never understanding ourselves and of threatening ourselves with death. Perhaps the earth can teach us as when everything seems dead and later proves to be alive. Now I'll count up to twelve and you keep quiet and I will go.

Neruda alludes that our "sadness" comes from never stopping to understand ourselves. Never finding that stillness and silence to seek God. Listening for that whisper! The Psalmist says it so beautifully in Psalm 46 verse 10a:

‘Be still, and know that I am God!

The challenge this week is to attempt to take five minutes, each day to sit in total, unplugged silence. Find a quiet spot, at school, home or work to sit in total silence for five minutes daily. No music, no talking. Just listen for God’s "still, small voice." In those five minutes, we realise we do not have to "perform" for God. We just need to sit with God. For a teenager, five minutes of silence might feel like an eternity; for an adult, it may feel like a luxury. Do what you can this week, working towards a full five minutes.

Let us pray:

Lord, the world tells us that our value comes from how much we do, but You tell us that our value comes from being Your child. Help us to be still. In the five minutes of silence we offer You this week, quiet our anxious thoughts. Teach us to listen for Your 'gentle whisper' and to trust that even when we are doing nothing, You are doing everything. Amen.

Week 3: Word over World

Monday 2 March to Sunday 8 March

Filtering the Noise

The author of Psalm 119, knew about these challenges and penned the following in verse 105:

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalm 119 calls the Word (the Bible) a "lamp," implying that without it, we are stumbling in the dark. Consider this poem, The Word by Mary Oliver from What Do We Know: Poems and Prose Poems (De Capo Press, Cambridge, MA: 2002)

How wonderful! I speak of the soul and seven people rise form their chairs and leave the room, seven others lean forward to listen. I speak of the body, the spirit, the mockingbird, and the hollyhock, leaves opening in the rain, music, faith, angels seen at dusk--and seven more people leave the room and are seen running down the road. Seven more stay where they are but make murmurous disruptive sounds. Another seven hang their heads, feigning disinterest though their hearts are open, their hope is high that they will hear the word even again. The word is already, for them, the song in the forest. They know already how everything is better-the dark trees less terrible, the ocean less hungry--when it comes forth, and looks around with its crisp and lovely eye, and begins to sing.

This reminds us that God’s voice is woven into the very fabric of the world, but we miss it because we are distracted, looking at our screens, organising things, worrying about the next thing. God's word can be found in the simple beauty of creation. Take the time to look around, to listen for His voice. Have a listen to and watch this video. The music is Word of God Speak by MercyMe, but the images and the scripture verses has been added to their music in this clip.

As MercyMe sings, we realise that we do not need more "information". We need a transformation that only comes when we let God’s Truth be the loudest voice in our lives. It is "okay" to be at a loss for our own words if it means finally hearing God's word. We move from being "informed" by the world to being "formed" by the Word.

Try replacing some of your "scroll-time" with reading a specific verse you have written down for the week. At school it may be the verse of the week in the daily notices or visit https://www.bible.com/verse-of-the-day for daily inspiration. This swap can be part of a digital fast that clears the fog.

Let us pray:

Holy Spirit, the world speaks so loudly, but Your Word speaks so truly. When we are tempted to compare ourselves to others or get lost in a digital world, pull us back to Your promises. Let Your Word be more than just ink on a page. Let it be a lamp for my feet and a shield for my mind. Fill the empty spaces in my day with Your eternal Truth. Amen.

Some advice on reading the bible:

or follow this plan for the next 7 days to get you started:

How to Read the Bible: Essentials

Week2: Radical Kindness

Monday 23 February to Sunday 1 March

Seeing others through God’s eyes.

Following Christ has two key elements, one being inward-focused (like we are doing this Lent) and the other is outward-facing. We are called to reflect God's light (be God's light) by how we treat those around us, particularly those who are not the same as us. This is the hard bit. It is easy to like the people that are the same as us, but far more difficult with people who are different. Read what Paul wrote to the Colossians:

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. - Colossians 3:12-14

We are being encourage to "put on" a series of Christlike virtues. The imagery of “putting on” suggests intentionality, like when we deliberately choose what clothes to wear. As believers we are called to actively choose the virtues that reflect our new identity in Christ. We recognise that kindness is a reflection of God’s character (v. 12); kindness thrives in community (v. 13) and love is the bond of harmony. (v. 14). Kindness is both a gift from God and a calling to embody His character. It shapes how we relate to one another, especially in moments of strain or conflict. Clothed with kindness and bound together by love, a Christian community becomes a living witness to the mercy of Christ.

Read Naomi Shihab Nye's poem Kindness, which gives us a profound look at how understanding "desolation" helps us learn the true value of kindness.

Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth. What you held in your hand, what you counted and carefully saved, all this must go so you know how desolate the landscape can be between the regions of kindness. How you ride and ride thinking the bus will never stop, the passengers eating maize and chicken will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho lies dead by the side of the road. You must see how this could be you, how he too was someone who journeyed through the night with plans and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing. You must wake up with sorrow. You must speak to it till your voice catches the thread of all sorrows and you see the size of the cloth. Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore, only kindness that ties your shoes and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread, only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say It is I you have been looking for, and then goes with you everywhere like a shadow or a friend.

From Words Under the Words: Selected Poems. Copyright © 1995 by Naomi Shihab Nye.

"Brother" by The Brilliance is a beautiful, orchestral piece about seeing the face of God in our neighbours and even our enemies. Take some time to listen to it as you reflect on what kindness you can offer this week. Think about, is it harder to be kind to strangers or to the people you live with? Why?

The challenge this week is to attempt to do one kind thing every day for someone who will never know it was you (e.g., cleaning a shared space, leaving an anonymous note). It is not about being noticed, but rather about making the world a better place for someone else, in the name of Jesus.

Let us pray:

Most loving God, You are the source of all compassion. Help us to remember that every person we meet is carrying a burden that we cannot see. As we practice our "secret blessings" this week, let our ego step aside so Your grace can step forward. Teach us that true power is found in serving others, and true joy is found in being kind when no one is watching. AMEN.

An explanation of Lent from J.John

Week 1: The Invitation

Ash Wednesday 18 Feb to Sunday 22 Feb

Heart Preparation

Joel 2:12-13

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.

The season of Lent is not about trying to be perfect. It is not just about giving something up. Probably the most common question I get asked when I mention Lent, "what are you giving up?" The season is not about giving up the right things. Rather it is about being present. Present with yourself, present with God, present with others, family and friends, present with your emotions and thoughts.

Consider the poem, the Guest House by Rumi (translation by Coleman Barks - The Essential Rumi), which reminds us to welcome every emotion and thought as a "guide" as we start our Lenten journey.

This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes As an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. - Rumi

Listen to this is a simple, grounding anthem sung by Matt Maher that acknowledges our need for God. You may want to take some time to reflect on:

What is one "noise" in your life you would like to quiet to hear God better?

Here is the challenge for the week, before checking your phone or starting your coffee in the morning, spend just 60 seconds thanking God for the breath in your lungs. Try to complete this each day for the first week of Lent, until Sunday 22 March.

LET US PRAY:

Lord, as we enter this 'bright wilderness' of Lent, we thank You for the invitation to come as we are. Forgive us each for the times we have been too busy to notice Your presence. This week, as we offer You our first waking moments, help us to hear Your voice above the noise. Soften our hearts so that we may be shaped by Your love over these next forty days. AMEN.

Alternative or further studies for Lent