Daily Prayer

Take a moment before you begin this morning and just slowly and meaningfully pray this prayer.

Lord of promise,
how quickly we forget,
how slow to understand,
The path is not the destination,
The desert not our land.
Amen.

Daily Scripture: John 3:14-21

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

Lenten Quote

“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about him being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

|C.S Lewis

Lenten Reflection

In today’s passage of Scripture Jesus speaks with a Jewish religious leader called Nicodemus. Later in the Gospel, Nicodemus will be one of the people who risks his life and reputation to claim Jesus’ body after his crucifixion and bury him in a tomb (See John 19). So what Jesus said to Nicodemus changed him.  

Questions to ponder: 

1. What do you believe in? Yourself? Your wisdom and understanding? Your friends and family? Jesus says the way of the ‘self’ leads to death and darkness. Or do you believe in Jesus? who will not let you perish in darkness but, through trust in him, promises that you are not condemned to death but are reborn to life now and for all eternity.   

2. Jesus is never afraid to ask us (including those who are powerful, wise and learned amongst us) the hard questions and confront us with the difficult reality. What hard question is Jesus confronting you with? What difficult, uncomfortable reality is he laying before you? Do you know he does not condemn you but desires to rescue you and give you life?  

3. Bernard of Clairvaux said ‘What we love we shall grow to resemble’. Reflect on what you love? How is this forming you? If you love Jesus how are you growing to resemble him?  

Lenten Song: No Condemnation

Closing Blessing

When memory forsakes us,
And we are tempted to return,
When forgetfulness makes us faithless
And truths remain unlearned,
When we run wild amidst the wilderness
And fashion idols amongst the sands
When the tester becomes the tested
And we lose sight of the promised land.

Forgive us Lord, we pray.

Deliverer, help us to remember,
And bring these things to mind,
That freedom stands before us.
And slavery behind.
That in the desert we are not deserted
And in our wanderings, we are not lost,
That no land is God-forsaken
And the promise worth the cost.

Bless us Lord, we pray

No Evening Zoom Reflection Tonight!

As it is Friday there will be no evening reflection over Zoom tonight but we look forward to seeing you on Sunday!

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!