Looking Outwards This Lent

I wonder what conversations you have had about Lent recently. Maybe they’ve focused on what people are giving up, or what people are going to do differently. Maybe you haven’t had any conversations about Lent because the people you know don’t really register it as a time of importance.

Lent, like Advent, is a strange time of year. They are both times of waiting for something, times of preparation. Traditionally it is a time of fasting, of going without, as a way of focusing our minds on God, and to prepare ourselves to celebrate Easter (if you want to take this really seriously, you could research the traditions that do pre-Lenton fasting, Lenton fasting and post-Lenton fasting). Many Christians also use it as a time to take on a new spiritual practice, again with the aim of focusing our minds on God. Our inspiration for this is, of course, Jesus and His 40 day fast in the wilderness, in preparation for His work and ministry. This 40 days was an echo of the 40 years that Israel has spent in the wilderness in preparation for their entry into the land they had been promised. Like them, we are waiting for a future when God will make things right, when He will bring goodness, and when the world will be brought back to the way it was supposed to be.

For the time being though, we are called to bring parts of that future into the here and now through the way we live and work. Our calling as Christians is to echo the life of Jesus in our own lives, and to see where God is active in the world today and join in.

At Church Army we want to help Christians to do that, and so this year we developed our Lent Resource. Made up of Reflection, Action, Mission and Character Cards, it is designed to help give space and time each day through Lent to meet with God, have our hearts and minds challenged by His word, and to be inspired by the work of CA Evangelists in living out their calling.

We would love as many people to engage with this resource as possible, and there are two ways you can join us.

• You can sign up for the email version of the Lent resource here. You’ll receive emails throughout Lent with the same content as is on the Lent Cards. The final date to do this is Sunday 27 February 2022.
• Alternatively, you can order a pack of Lent cards from here. These will allow you to journey through Lent with them, and then use them beyond as part of a group or personal devotional time.

If you’ve already signed up to the emails, or ordered a pack, we’d love to hear from you on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.