Jenny’s letter 22nd February
Dear Friends,
On the first Sunday of Lent we are taken into the wilderness with Jesus: forty days, hunger, silence, and then the tempter’s voice — “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
It is such a simple temptation: immediate relief, quick comfort, solve the ache now.
If we are honest, we understand that temptation deeply. We live in the age of the quick fix — next-day delivery, instant streaming, one-click purchases, fast diets, faster opinions. If something feels uncomfortable, we soothe it. If we feel empty, we fill it. If we feel restless, we distract ourselves. Turning stones into bread has become second nature. But Jesus refuses. Not because bread is bad, nor because hunger is holy, but because Lent is not about immediate relief; it is about real freedom. “Man shall not live by bread alone.”
The wilderness exposes what we rely on and invites us to realign ourselves with God. Psalm 32 captures that movement from heaviness to freedom. The psalmist admits, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away… day and night your hand was heavy upon me.” There is a kind of life that looks fine on the outside but feels heavy within — when we hide, pretend, numb, or live on substitutes.
Yet the turning point comes with honesty: “Then I acknowledged my sin to you… and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” And suddenly God is no longer a distant judge but a refuge — “You are a hiding place for me; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.”
That is the heart of Lent: not self-punishment, but the lifting of weight; not denial for its own sake, but rediscovering the joy of being forgiven and free.
Giving something up is pointless if it does not bring us closer to Christ. We can give up chocolate and cling to pride; fast from social media yet avoid prayer; deny ourselves small comforts while refusing deeper change. The wilderness strips away our quick fixes and reveals what we are truly hungry for. In Christ we discover we are already loved, already claimed, already secure — and that security is what makes repentance freeing rather than frightening.
In the wider world this week there has been much discussion about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Harm is real, accountability matters, and wrongdoing cannot simply be brushed aside. Yet Psalm 32 reminds us that sin is not confined to headlines or royalty; it is woven into every human heart. That does not excuse anyone. It does prevent self-righteousness. Lent is not about pointing at other people’s stones; it is about allowing God to deal gently and truthfully with our own, turning guilt into forgiveness and heaviness into freedom.
If you would value companions for that journey, our Lent Bible Study begins next Wednesday afternoon at The Rectory. Together we will explore how Scripture shapes us, how confession becomes liberation, and how we might live not by bread alone but by every word that comes from God.
The stones will always be there. Quick fixes will always appeal. The question Lent places before us is this: will we settle for immediate relief, or will we allow Christ to lead us into the deeper freedom of those who are forgiven and surrounded by “shouts of deliverance”?
With prayers as we begin this holy season,
