I’ve been slow to write a reflection today. That’s partly a reaction to the world situation. We woke up this morning to a world even more immersed chaos that was yesterday. It made my plan to spend the second week of Lent focusing on the blessing of gospel living seem at best irrelevant. As I watch conflict and chaos spread across the world it’s almost impossible to discover any blessing in life.
This is the natural response in such frightening and unsettled times. We tend to turn in on ourselves, seeking protection and turning away from hope. In such situations it quickly becomes hard to notice the blessing that God continues to lavish on us even in the hardest of times.
In that state of mind this line in our Lauds Canticle from the prophet Isaiah leapt out at me:
“Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name you are mine. Should you pass through the sea I will be with you; or through rivers, they will not swallow you up.”
This wasn’t written to people living safe and stable lives. It was written to a people in exile who had lost their families, their livelihoods, their culture, even their faith.
This caused me to think again about gospel living. If Isaiah’s words could be a blessing for people in exile they can be a blessing for us in our challenging circumstances today. The blessing of living for today is that however dark and frightening our times, however overwhelming our circumstances we are held in the heart of the loving God who will never leave us.
As we begin the second week of Lent do you need to feel that you are held in God’s heart?