Many inspiring folk spirituals have come down to us from the awful days of the slave trade, and they can evoke a trembling response when sung .One of the simplest and most direct is ‘Were you there when they crucified my Lord.’ The question and its response set the tone for our theme for Lent because constantly the question will arise: ‘were you there?’
And if you enter with us into the centre of the drama, feeling the mystery and responsibility of it all, you will have to respond in the words of the same spiritual:
‘Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble….’
We shall be meeting with various personalities of the passion in our Lenten journey -
some of these enemies of Jesus and some whose hearts were touched with his loving
compassion and who were fired by his call. We shall be able to identify with many, if not all, of them and we shall constantly realise our need for daily conversion and a new experience of God’s grace.
Brothers and sisters in Christ: since early days Christians have observed with great devotion the time of our Lord’s passion and resurrection. It became the custom of the church to prepare for this by a season of penitence and fasting. At first this season of Lent was observed by those who were preparing for baptism at Easter and by those who were to be restored to the church’s fellowship from which they had been separated through sin. In course of time the church came to recognise that, by careful
keeping of these days, all Christians might take to heart the call to repentance and the assurance of forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel, and so grow in faith and in devotion to our Lord.
In our services and Lent groups this year we will follow themes from our Lent book,
“When they crucified my Lord” by Brother Ramon SSF, an Anglican Franciscanfriar – ISBN 184101 024 3.
We shall reflect on the Gospel story and the experiences of those who were there, to find inspiration and strength for our lives