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The Lent Encounter 2023

Welcome to The Lent Encounter 2023! We’re thrilled that you are joining us on this journey through the Lenten season to the joy of the resurrection of Jesus at Easter.

 

Thursday 23 March: Humility

St Augustine said that humility is the foundation of all the other virtues. But what is humility? I like to think about it this way: it is related to the Latin word ‘humus’ or ‘soil’.

Wednesday 22 March: Labouring in the vineyard

We’ve seen over the last two days how the gospel of God calls for us to have confidence in living it out in our lives, and how God supplies us with the strength to do just that, rooting us in his love and holiness. Once...

Tuesday 21 March: Spiritual strength

Ephesians 3 is a rich passage, but notice how it is studded with references to strength, rootedness. Take some time today to ponder over each phrase of that prayer, and to grasp its logic.

Monday 20 March: Gospel confidence

This week our focus turns to renewing our commitment to treading the path of Lent towards Easter. However we feel Lent has gone up until this point, now is a great time to realign ourselves with the journey.

Sunday 19 March: Space to reflect and pray

Here are some suggestions for your prayer and reflection at the end of this week

Saturday 18 March: New heavens, new earth

There are all sorts of weird and wonderful ideas about what the return of Christ will look like, most of them drawn from incautious readings of the book of Revelation, and that can make us a bit reluctant to be too positive...

Friday 17 March: Forgiven

The atheist novelist and critic Marghanita Laski once put her finger on the heart of the gospel. She said in a TV interview, ‘What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me.’

Thursday 16 March: Good news for the poor

One of the most spine-tingling moments in the Gospels is toward the beginning of Luke, when after his baptism and temptation he appears in the Nazareth synagogue and reads from Isaiah 61.

Wednesday 15 March: The light shines in the darkness

When John wrote in his Gospel, ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out’ (1.5), he knew what darkness was. Real darkness isn’t easy to live with.

How to use The Lent Encounter devotional

If you have two minutes: Listen to the audio reflection and ponder how it might be relevant in your life.

If you have up to ten minutes: Read the Bible passage and listen to the audio reflection; you might want to keep a small journal, or note on your phone, to jot down words and phrases that jump out at you. Finish with a brief prayer to put what you have read and heard into practice.

What if I miss a day(s)?: Don’t worry, life happens! Just pick up the devotional again on the current day, and, if you wish, you can use the space for reflection on Sundays to listen to those reflections you may have missed.

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