Build me an Ark!
Each year we set the forty days before Easter aside, as a time of fasting ad preparation for the celebration of the Passion of Christ, at which time we renew our baptismal promises, and with St Paul we say, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20)
In our Lenten journey for 2021, we will be discovering one of the great themes of Scripture: A call to salvation. Just as Noah was called to build an ark to receive the saving love of God and just as Noah was called to take the animals with him to save their lives with his (Gen 6:19), we are called to build our lives following God’s instructions.
We all know that life is lived in orbit, as we orbit through the liturgical calendar my prayer is that each year you will deepen your understanding and your practice and that your relationship with God will grow closer.
One of the challenges of Lent is to allow God, through the Holy Spirit, to break down our preconceived ideas, our prejudices and our misunderstandings. If we look at Jesus ministry, especially to the devout Jews, it was a constant call to reordering their lives and returning to what God required of all of us and not what we have made it to be. We need to constantly reform our thinking and our actions. So, join me in building an ark that will float on the waters of life, trusting God to show us the way; and as we receive the Covenant again, may our next cycle be a deeper and closer and fuller experience of God and His Son Jesus our saviour, as he draws us into Himself.
“But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did. (Gen 6:18-22 NKJV).
let us pray:
Thank you Father, for your covenant love. Thank you that you call us to build a life in you that will enable us to float on the deep waters of life and find a home with you. Thank you for the calling upon our lives to serve you in your great act of salvation for the world, and today as we prepare for Lent we seek your will for our lives. By your Spirit you call us to the wilderness of hope, a wilderness of freedom to serve you. Holy Spirit empower us to follow Christ, and give us strength to build an Ark. Amen.
