St Edburg's Church - Bicester

Today is the first Sunday in Lent which lasts 46 days from last Wednesday through to Holy Saturday on 19thApril and Easter Sunday on 20th April. Lent has for many centuries been seen by the Church as a time for Christians to fast, pray and study so as to learn more about God and what He wishes each of us to do.

​

The first day of Lent is called Ash Wednesday because at services on that day those present have a cross of ashes marked on our foreheads as a sign of our origin and mortality. As this is done the minister says to each person:

Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ

​

This reminds us that, according to the creation story in the Book of Genesis Adam was made from dust like all living creatures: 

“Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2.7)

​

Humans are formed from the same atoms as make up most of the universe and our earthly bodies will return those atoms to the universe when we die. But God has made each of us unique because he breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life. He has given us free will to choose or reject Him.

​

If we accept God’s offer we need to learn how to serve Him as he wishes us to do. Lent is a time when we can concentrate on prayer to find out what God wants us to do, and to understand better what the Christian life means and what it requires of us as individuals. It should be a time to focus on trying to understand what the Christian life involves and what God wants us to do.

​

We should worship God and pray to Him, but we should also try do practical good here on earth and try to build the Kingdom of God in the here and now. Few, if any, of us find this easy to do. Lent provides a time to read and study and to think about how we can live more as Christ wants us to, and to try to focus more on God and on our relationship with Him. The Church of England nationally is running a daily series of reflections at www.churchofengland.org/faith-life/what-we -believe/lent-holy-week-and-easter/living-hope-resources-lent-2025. Our own Diocese of Oxford is running its Come and See Lent Course with daily emails with bible readings and reflections at www.oxford.anglican.org/come-and-see.  

 

Christopher Young