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Lenten Doors

 

There is a strange edge to the day
we enter Lent where the border
of wilderness and routine
crumbles and the clay beneath our feet
feels less heavy as if it pulls from us
all the weight of abundance
and leaves us with less than we hoped
but all the questions we harbour about
these lenten badlands of faith: of tempters
and emperors and crosses and saviours
all broken in the clash of darkness
with the light itself strange
and restless not yet familiar with the shadows
which are soon to stretch themselves
over the story we cling to and the faith
that still lingers like some
sticky catkin covered in frost; here is all we have
to bring into Lent and to rely on when all else
is exposed as shallow and fickle. Here is the faith
that calls us into wilderness and promise
for they are both found here, now we have
cleared away all that distracts with its empty assurance.
The season has opened and the door
will not shut until a saviour cries at the last
and the silence falls.

An experience of Letting Go

Four table cloths on small coffee tables each sayinf a different word: Lay Down, Pick Up, Let Go, Renew

They will speak differently to each of us and perhaps in a number of different ways. You are invited to respond to the invitation of lent into and towards a more acoustic version of our faith, nothing fancy, electronic, flashing away, but only what you yourself can bring, that which means most to you.

There are four actions on the tables. Simply light a light on the table with the action you wish to take up. It may be more than one, light a light on whatever table you wish.

It is an act of discipline, hope and faith to begin our lenten journey.

Play: 'Bring on the wonder'.

 

Prayer:

May we lay down…
May we lay down that which we do not need
but also that which we fear to let go…
and trust you more
with that which we fear to trust you with…
May we lay down…

pause

May we pick up
May we pick up that which we are scared to do
for we do not know where it will take us
and trust you more
with that which we fear to trust you with
May we pick up

pause

May we let go
May we let go that which we find difficult to do
for they have been our bedfellows for so long
and we fear what we will miss
yet may we trust you more
with that which we fear to trust you with
May we let go…

pause

May we renew
May we renew that which we know is worn
yet we are familiar with it
it has kept us well
and we can never replace it
yet may we trust you more
with that which we fear to trust you with
May we renew

pause

May we travel with you
are the season opens
and join you
on the way

So be it
Amen

 

 


 

Loving God
Generous God
Traveling God
may we travel with you
as the season deepens
and the shadows lengthen
and the light changes
towards Jerusalem
and into love’s moment
to break free
from the will of the empires of the world
the choices they make
the power they seek

May we travel with you, O Jesus
leaving footprints there in the sand
invitations to all
that witness
we are on the way
your way
the cross’s way
and we will not let you be on your own
May our faith be strong enough
our hope deep enough
our love vulnerable enough
to see this through
and see you there
beyond the cross
and coloured by morning light
fresh from the dawn

And may we find the words and the silence
both restless with what has been said and unsaid before
and ready to be filled again
with new life
new trust
new faith
to engage with the season
and trust this moment
where earth and heaven
clash
and hope is born
in the chaos

Loving God
Generous God
Traveling God
may we travel with you
now
and forever
so be it
Amen

love

 

in season
we seek the arid quality
of our faith
that thins out
the ‘too much-ness’
of the religious life
longing for a thinner lifestyle
of a faith
more reliant
on the meagre
than the excessive
the ability to survive
on single words of love
and grace
and beauty
and see the sacred
everywhere in the everyday
and believe it is enough.

such words come in season
in the speaking of love
so overwhelmingly
greater
than the powers and the dying
so much more
than the fear and the fashions
a love so great
it cannot be overcome

but this is more than the everyday
more than the frugal crumbs
we think we need
to survive on
this is everything

such love

and lent
the arid season
is bursting with it
 

New Kilpatrick Parish Church

28 Kirk Place

Bearsden G61 3RT

 

Rev Roddy Hamilton

0141 942 8827

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Scottish Charity SC012997

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Unless otherwise stated, all material on this website is copyright New Kilpatrick Church

 

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