Last Sunday dawned bright and sunny with a blue sky promising a good day.  In the garden, snowdrops and daffodils herald Spring.

However, I quickly discovered that the air was not as Spring-like as it looked.  The car was covered in ice and despite the sun, the temperature remained stubbornly in single figures all day.  The cold seeped through my several layers of clothing; and I was not alone. Almost every conversation I had, began with comment on the cold which had, to varying degrees, caught many out.  December’s cold snap apart, we have had a mild winter, but winter is with us for a little longer; we ignore it at our peril.

How quickly we get used to new-found comforts and easily slip to complacency.  Moving, as I did for many years, from one well-heated building to another, via an equally well-heated car; I often neglected to carry a coat; until the day I broke down and spent a very cold hour waiting for help.  Some things should never be taken for granted.

Last week we began our Lenten journey with a reminder of how our ancestors fell for the serpent’s lies, and ate the forbidden fruit (Gen: 3: 1-7).  We sought to be like God, knowing good from evil (Gen 3: 5) then discovered, when it was too late, that we had broken our bond with God and introduced death into creation.  Thankfully a man is found, or rather sent, who is able to restore that link as we hear Jesus facing down Satan, resisting Satan’s tempting (Matt: 4: 1-11).  As St Paul remarks more than once (eg Rom 5:12, 1 Cor 15: 22), ‘as death came through Adam, so resurrection life comes through Jesus’.  This weekend we will listen-in on a conversation between Jesus and the Pharisee, Nicodemus, in which Jesus explains that the link into God’s kingdom comes through the Spirit of God, in whom we must be reborn.

Like any relationship, our relationship with God needs constant attention if we are to avoid taking God for granted.   Like a cold snap in winter; the temptation to be like God on our terms, to put God to the test, is never far away.  As we journey into Lent, now is a good time to ask God to help us refresh our relationship with Him; to equip us to resist the cold snap of the Tempter; that we can continue to live secure in Him.

Rev’d Philip Payne

The Notice Sheet for 5th March can be found here

Lent 2