God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
You speak and summon us away
From that which is false, familiar, and faithless,
You invite us to tread a path into the unknown,
Where our barrenness is transformed by your blessing.
Amen

Daily Scripture: Romans 4:13-25

Find the above scripture in your bible and read slowly – you might want to read it out loud. You can also find it here.

Lenten Quote

‘A faith that does not hope is sick. It is like a hungry child who will not eat or a tired person who will not sleep. As certainly as people believe, so certainly do they hope. And it is no shame in hoping, in hoping boundlessly. Who would even want to talk of God and not hope? Who would want to talk of God without hoping one day to see him?

And why should we be ashamed of our hope? We will one day have to be ashamed, not of our hope, but of our miserable and anxious hopelessness that trusts nothing to God, that in false humility does not grasp where God’s promises are given, that is resigned to this life and cannot look forward to God’s eternal power and glory. The more people dare to hope, the greater they become with their hope: people grow with their hope—if it is hope only in God and his sole power. Hope abides.

| Dietrich Bonhoeefer

Lenten Reflection

‘Abraham crops up today in the pages of the New Testament – in a letter from Paul, who is out to convince his readers that it is by faith (believing and trusting) in Jesus’ death and resurrection that we are made right with God.

Paul wants us to know that Abraham lived by such faith: believing and trusting in God’s promise of a child, even in the face of his many years (over a hundred!) and Sarah being well past the usual time of child-bearing (I have put that more delicately than the text).  Paul wants us to pay attention to Abraham’s example to get hold of something important. So, let’s do that today.

Give some time to ponder Abraham’s situation and what it meant for him to live with God’s promise. How does this faith take shape in your life today? 

Are there situations where you, like Abraham might be called to trust God for impossible situations, to ‘hope against hope’?

What lessons might we learn from Abraham’s example that could help us in our journey?

Lenten Song: Prayer for Travellers

Closing Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,
wherever He may send you.
May He guide you through the wilderness,
protect you through the storm.
May He bring you home rejoicing
at the wonders He has shown you.
May He bring you home rejoicing
once again into our doors.

Evening Zoom Reflection at 9pm

We will be meeting tonight on Zoom to reflect on this together. You would be most welcome to join us. We start at 9pm and finish at 9:20pm. Maybe bring a Bible and a journal if you have them.

We are usually on a few moments before for a chat. Click here to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84743926286

We would love to make this a shared learning experience as much as possible so therefore please consider adding any thoughts, questions and insights that might arise for you in the comments section below. We would love to hear what God is up to in this time!