Church News The flickering flame

Tomorrow is the 1st Sunday in Lent.

We journey towards Easter, God’s event that shaped human history and shook the foundations of eternity.

Lent is traditionally a period of self-denial.

It is also an opportunity for reflection and self examination.

In the Middle Ages, a Lenten Veil covered the sanctuary, denying the worshippers the chance to see the sacred furniture in the chancel area.

Deprived of the assurance of the familiar chancel scene, they reflected on their own commitment in a self-critical way.

Let us engage in our own self-examination.

Concerning our own Christian commitment, our own church membership, worship and witness.

Let us be honest with ourselves, willing to admit frankly to our own faith’s shortcomings.

This Lenten season, let us be guided by the parables of Jesus.

Joachim Jeremias wrote, ’The parables of Jesus do not lay down general maxims for good conduct’.

He continued,‘No one would crucify a teacher who told pleasant stories to enforce prudent morality’ (‘The Parables of Jesus’p19).

Rather, the parables press home to the listener the urgent message that the kingdom of God has arrived in Jesus.

The parables are Jesus’demand for decision and commitment from his listeners.

There is a group of parables dealing with ultimate issues.

One of them is the parable of the ten maidens waiting for the late arrival of the bridegroom.

Five bring a sufficient supply of oil, while five find their supply diminished by the bridegroom’s late arrival.

The five unwise maidens are excluded from the wedding. (Matthew 25.1-13).

Do the five unwise maidens with an insufficient supply represent us and our flickering flame of faith?

Perhaps we fear that our Christian faith has faded and, with the passing of the years, it has lost its freshness, strength and vitality.

The line of the hymn may sum up how we feel.

‘Where is the blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord. Where is the soul refreshing view of Jesus and his word?’

It does not help when we witness the decline of the national church.

Will many local churches suffer the same fate as some High Street retailers, being unable to survive the covid lockdown?

The church’s voice is heard much less, its teaching largely ignored, its authority called in question, its standards challenged.

It is only natural that we wonder. Like the unwise maidens, we may find the flame of faith begin to flicker.

There is a lovely story in John Bunyan’s‘Pilgrim’s Progress’when Christian rests in the house with a warm fire.

But, as he reaches forward to warm himself, the Adversary douses the flames with water.

But the fire continues to burn. Christian finds that as the Adversary puts water on the fire so the Spirit pours oil on the fire to keep it burning.

The fuel of our faith is the Easter Jesus of Cross and Emptied Tomb.

We are pilgrims journeying towards the twin events of Easter, the Cross of Calvary and the Tomb emptied by the power of God.

So, at the beginning of Lent, let us be overwhelmed by the majesty of Easter.

Easter is the work of God, the ultimate act of God for the salvation of the global family.

In the creation of heaven and Earth, God constructed the eternal stage for Easter’s God-blessed salvation.

The course of history, the ways of nations, the passage of time and the dimension of space gather round the place and the moment that we call Easter.

That is the eternal dimension of God’s Easter fulfilled in the scene of human history.

No faith need flicker when fuelled by such an eternal deed.

The eye of faith shines brightly, the voice of faith shouts loudly, the step of faith strides strongly, the heart of faith loves deeply and the soul of faith simply sings to the Lord when we view the heavenly spectacle we call Easter.

‘Jesus told the disciples that he ‘must’go to Jerusalem to suffer many things’(Matthew 16.21).