Pilgrims Progress -2nd April 2010
I was talking to our cubs, and we reminded ourselves that Muslims take fasting very seriously, and most Christians are more likely just to give one or two things up for Lent.
What is fasting about? It's about reminding ourselves what matters. We don't need all the rich food we normally eat. We don't need all the other comforts we depend on: after all, we don't need very much at all.
Church leaders have called on people to give up their mobile phones and ipods for Lent as an up-to-date way of reminding ourselves that we can do without a lot of things we take for granted.
The point of giving up is to stop ourselves from being distracted by things that don't really matter and to free ourselves to ask the really important questions, 'What am I doing with my life? What difference do I make?'
Someone once said: "I read in the Bible that Jesus went about doing good – and I ask myself 'How come I only manage to go about….?'" Martin Luther King said that the biggest problem in the world is not the wicked people, it's the good people who keep silent.
Michael Foot, who died last month, said: "We are not here in this world to find elegant solutions... no, we are here to provide for all those who are weaker and hungrier, more battered and crippled than ourselves. That is our only certain good and great purpose on earth."
That, I think, is what Lent is supposed to remind us, too.
Neil Bishop
Sandal Methodist Church
The Walk of Witness leaves the Salvation Army, Vicarage Street today, Good Friday at 9:45am: Outdoor Witness Service tomorrow, Saturday, outside the Cathedral at noon: www.wdco. org/site/Churches-Together-in-Wakefield
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Friday 25 May 2012
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