Picture courtesy of wonker@flickr

A simple service to prepare us for Lent.

Verses from Mark chapter 1 (click link to read).

Discussion: When Jesus was sent by the Spirit into the desert to fast and pray, he was preparing for God to use him in the years ahead.  He was prepared to be challenged.  He was prepared to change.

How might we prepare to be challenged so that we might be prepared to be changed by God this Lent?

What are the obstacles to change in our lives – change in how we think and feel, how we speak, how we behave, our habits and disciplines?

Confession: Jesus Christ, fully human and fully God, we come to you in sorrow for our resistance to be changed through and by you, and confess to you our lack of faith and courage. We have lived by our own strength, and not by the power of your new life. In your mercy, forgive us. Lord, hear us and help us.

We have lived by the light of our own eyes, as faithless and not believing. In your mercy, forgive us. Lord, hear us and help us.

We have lived for this world alone, and doubted our home in heaven. In your mercy, forgive us. Lord, hear us and help us.

Reflection: First, to ask God to reveal specific areas in our lives where He is challenging us to change this Lent. Second, as Lent is traditionally a period of spiritual discipline, what spiritual discipline might you want to adopt more fully and regularly to create the kinds of conditions in your life where that change may take place? E.g. silence, fasting, solitude, study, meditation…

Blessing: May the Father from whom every family in earth and heaven receives its name strengthen us with his Spirit in our inner being so that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith and that, knowing his love, broad and long, deep and high beyond all knowledge, we may be filled with all the fullness of God; And the blessing of God almighty,the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,be among us and remain with us always. Amen.