Bishop David reflects on the Gospel passage for the First Sunday of Lent, Mark 1:9-15, and encourages us to listen for the voice of our Father God speaking our name…
Text below:
Sisters and brothers, it’s amazing to be at the start of Lent 2024 with you. I don’t know if you, like me, have found that there’s been too many tasks to complete in too shorter period of time – and now Lent is suddenly here!
Yesterday I had a chance to spend time with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth, the District Chair of the Methodist Circuit and the Regional Commander of the Salvation Army, along with our own Bishop Geoff Annas. We shared together about what was giving us hope, and we ate a simple delicious meal together. But the heart of it for me was kneeling in silence in the Bishops’ chapel. For the Roman Catholic Church, the emphasis of this silence is to sit quietly in the company of the Lord Jesus. And I found myself thinking: isn’t that our ambition for Lent? Simply to spend more time in the company of Jesus.
The Gospel reading for this Sunday is that astonishing passage at the beginning of Mark. It’s one of the two occasions when a voice from heaven comes and speaks over Jesus. For as he comes out of the water, a voice says ‘This is my son, the beloved, in who I am well pleased.’ Lent is a time to spend in the company of Jesus. And when we do that, I think we’ll discover that he says things over us, too.
I love confirming people – every time I look people in the eye and say ‘The Lord has called you by name and made you his own’ and then lay my hands on the candidates head and say ‘Confirm, oh Lord, Your servant with your Holy Spirit’. I find there are strong echoes of what Jesus experienced in his ministry and his baptism and we can identify with him.
So as you pray and as you draw near to the Lord Jesus this Lent, I wonder if you’d be ready, in the silence and the quiet, to hear him speak your name, and you will discover that he will say words of blessing over you too. This is all the more important in a world that is potentially going through almost unprecedented, in modern times, degree of conflict. We only have to look at the huge uptake in the use of our food banks to know that many households in our own nation are also going through unprecedented challenges. We only have to go into some of our schools and discover that some of our pupils are really struggling post-COVID to know what a normal or healthy relationships look like. You and I have got huge demands on our times. And in your churches and schools and chaplaincies, you’ve got huge demands on you being able to offer acts of compassion and care to those around us, to offer the ministry of Jesus to the people we spend our time with.
But despite all of these demands, despite all the things that might fill our prayers, I am convinced that we need some holy habits in Lent. And some of this must include times of stillness before the Lord in the company of Jesus. For it is from that place, as the Lord speaks his words of grace over you, that you will have the spiritual resources, the grace of God, to face whatever it is in your own life, or indeed in the way you serve your community.
Coming out of the waters, Jesus saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending on him like a dove and a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.’ Lord, may we have a holy Lent, may we find space and time to be quiet before you. Lord, open our hearts to receive you afresh, unblock our ears to hear you speak our name, and give us every gift in order to live as the people you have meant us to be, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
