Rather interesting...perhaps there is more to breaking bread than getting dressed up in vestments

Have a bit of a look at this and see if there is a connection
http://livingchurch.org/breaking-more-bread-together http://livingchurch.org/breaking-more-bread-together

I suspect there is ...
perhaps church might not be about being 'religious' so much as bringing Jesus into our daily life!

Getting on with Lent-day by day

I have long told people that Lent is not a time for beating ourselves up. There are plenty of others who will do that for us.
It is rather a time of grace. A God-given time to do some intensive work on building our relationship with God, rather than trying to make it harder.
Sometimes that mean we do need to be a fit firmer with ourselves, so trying not to over indulge (fasting) might help us with that.
Or it may be that we need to do a little more...prayer, work, worship, Bible reading, acts of kindness.
BUT we so often overlook the obvious. Do more of what is going well!
Spend more time not less with those who are closest too us. Do more of the things that seem to enliven us.
It  not a question of either-or but both-and. What I am sure of is that self-inflicted banging our head against an obvious brick wall...setting impossible goals, trying to solve impossible relationship issues, burning candles at both ends......etc is not what we should be doing.
So as we begin Lent, begin where it looks like things are already going well, and perhaps do a little more.
This is advice Thomas Merton gives to those who came to him on how to pray better. Spend10 minutes instead of 5, pray twice a day instead of once, carry one person in your heart throughout Lent....we can build on that. But if we try to scale the heights without gradually strengthening the foundation we are almost certain to fail.
We may also be surprised by how Lent can be a positive experience rather than an exercise doomed to fail...which we probably never therefore begin

Why do we bother?

(look  at Is 58:1-9)
Lent is a time when we dare to raise the term "fasting"
It is not a 21st century concept
because it speaks of giving up....usually food...but also other things
like sex!!!  or alcohol!!
Why would we do this?
The simple reason is that we are trying to claim our humanity!
And to suggest that we are not driven by: food or sex or drink!
That's a pretty big claim in today's world. Often we seem to just move from one thing to another. And we don't question any of it.
Fasting is a confrontationalist discipline!
It says...we eat too much.  TRUE
We are obsessed by sex....TRUE
And just in case we can't cope let's drink (or drug, or exercise, or TV, or buy)  ourselves into oblivion.    TRUE

Fasting simply says...let's not do that ...for a limited period
At least to say "I am not driven!"
Can we in the next 24 hours, week, month.....decide to not be driven by our raw appetites!?

for 7th March

Deep roots

I love this verse of Psalm  1
They are like trees
   planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
   and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper. 

it speaks of God seeking to plant his love deep in our hearts
and to ground it deep within our being
How, I wonder, is God 
deep within us?
How, I ask, do we want God to respond to our deepest needs?
Is it our concern for our children?
Is it our deep-felt sense of loneliness?
If we open up to God about what is really troubling us 
then God can touch the reality of our lives
but if we close in ad say (or pretend)
"I'm fine!"
then we are not going to even let God in there!

for 6th March

Ash Wednesday

It is my great joy on Ash Wednesday to mark my beloved parishioners with the sign of the Cross. In ashes, which are harsh!
The words,  which are also harsh. And remind us of human fragility
  Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return!

  Repent and believe  in the Gospel!

These latter words are perhaps the most important. Because we are reminded on Ash Wednesday that we need to make some changes! Stop doing wrong, stop being two-faced and trying to have an 'each-way' bet and start acting as though we are genuinely committed to God.
I find that there are some people who I don't like very much,
and who are not easy to forgive for the hurt that they have inflicted on me or my family.
Well, Lent says, "Get over it!"
and decide to behave differently.
It is easy, on one level, to say....well they need to say sorry too!
But that is rather beside the point .
Lent is inviting me to act well!
Not to be reasonable! Not to be fair. But to be Christian.
To be, indeed, Christlike
in so far as I can.
This might involve turning the other cheek,
it might involve 'giving and not counting the cost',
and indeed giving our lives for others.
Happy Lent.... but let's not pretend it's going to be easy!


for 5th March-Ash Wednesday