Thought for the Week 4th March Second Week of Lent

Lent is not for the faint-hearted. It demands that we, like Thomas, put our hand into the side of the crucified Christ. Lent is a journey towards the cross, a journey of enlightenment: from wilderness to feast, from desert to oasis. It's an attempt to identify with the powerless and the suffering in the world. Lent is not tidy. The days grow longer, the ground thaws, there's mud and dirt everywhere and the windows need cleaning. Lent is a journey. So at the end of Lent we should expect to find ourselves somewhere different from where we started. Lent can be an opportunity to explore what is the nature of the promised Kingdom of God on earth that we long for; a time to discern how we are called to work for it. No, Lent is not for the faint-hearted.
Kate McIlhagga

A reading from the book of Genesis. (17.1–7, 15–16)

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’
Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.

I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.’ God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’