Martin Tarr
This is how Rev Sheila Cameron finished her sermon on 5 March, the Second Sunday of Lent:
During Lent, let us think about those risky journeys of Abraham and Nicodemus and of Jesus himself, and about what journeying might mean to each of us. What are the comforts you would need to think about renouncing, if you believed God was calling you to take a step into the unknown? These might be material things such as home comforts; or they might be favourite plans that don’t necessarily include God; or they might be attitudes of mind that put self before discipleship. Whichever category your sacrifice comes under, it won’t be comfortable, but you will be listening for a call to a greater purpose beyond that sacrifice. The present may be darkness, but faith keeps us steady and teaches us patience. And the future holds promises beyond our imaginings.
So, as we make our personal journey of discipleship through Lent, let us empty our hearts and minds of all that distracts us, so that we can, in the words of Henri Nouwen, “prepare in the centre of our innermost being the home for the God who wants to dwell in us. Then we can say with St Paul, ‘I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me’ (Galatians 2:20).” And in this we’ll have a safe home while we are still on the way. Amen.
Do read the whole of Sheila’s sermon at this link.
Our picture by Aram Sabah is a slightly cropped version of the one made available on the Unsplash platform.
As it says on the Diocesan website: “The United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG), as part of this year’s Lent Appeal, encourages us to acknowledge that our neighbours are not just those in our hometowns. Your neighbour is the person that God calls you to love despite your differences. We pray with our Church partners around the world and stand with their mission to support vulnerable people in their local communities. Please join the global Anglican church in transforming lives.
“This year we stand with and pray for our neighbours in Tanzania and Sri Lanka:
- The Church of Tanzania’s Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV programme
In the Chamwino district of Tanzania almost all women of reproductive age were afraid to go into hospitals. The Church of Tanzania’s prevention programme provides both the practical and medical support needed to prevent the virus being passed on from mothers to their children. Thanks to this programme, babies are being born HIV free, breaking the chain of infection.
- The Church of Ceylon’s response to the economic crisis in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is undergoing its worst economic crisis since the country’s independence in 1948. The soaring cost of living caused by food and fuel shortages has caused power cuts, a lack of medicines and the near collapse of the health system in the country.
“Further information on these important programmes and an accompanying Lenten Study Course Who is Our Neighbour?can be downloaded here.
“We have the opportunity, through this appeal, to help the USPG fund the work of our partner churches there and their life-changing programmes.”
St Margaret’s will again be supporting the appeal, and an open-plate collection will be taken on Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday.
Below are two extracts from Rev Sheila Cameron’s sermon on Ash Wednesday, 22 February 2023, when our readings had included Isaiah 58:1–12 and John 8:1–11.
We are all beloved children of God, but we must “participate in our own redemption.” Today, at the beginning of Lent, our liturgy invites us to enter the darkness of our sin, to recognize it for what it is and face the pain it has caused ourselves and others. We may find consolation in the thought that our sins are perhaps less extreme than other people’s but so, of course, did those preparing to stone the woman caught in adultery. It’s not our business to feel holier than others and to cast stones at others, but to know that our nature is flawed and reflect on our own shortcomings.
…
Isaiah warns us not to pay mere lip-service to our liturgy this morning, for receiving ashes on our faces will do us no good at all if our hearts are hardened towards the needs of those around us. We are entering what our liturgy calls a “desert of repentance,” forty days of reflecting on how we might be God’s people once again. This, we’re told, is a journey of discovery, “a pilgrimage of prayer and discipline” through which we hope to reconnect with the God we have offended by our sinfulness and our disregard for the welfare of others.
The promises of renewal are there in our reading from Isaiah: the promise of light breaking into our darkness like the dawn, of healing springing up quickly, of the glory of God shielding and protecting us. In this place of contrition, our prayers will be answered, for God never disregards a cry from a broken and a contrite heart. We wait sorrowfully and yet expectantly, and it’s best if we don’t anticipate anything precise, for when the light comes it will certainly arise in unexpected places.
Do read the whole sermon, which is available at this link, if only to read the first illustration! Sheila ended quoting and commenting on sections of Louis Untermeyer’s poem, Ash Wednesday, which you can read in full on-line at this link.
Our picture is the one taken by our friend Liz Crumlish to accompany the Ash Wednesday 2023 thought on her blog, and can be seen in context at this link.
