The end of our Lenten journey is in sight.

Having travelled through the depths of the wilderness, we begin our slow but certain ascent towards Jerusalem, where we will walk with our Lord through the events of Holy Week, beginning next week with Palm Sunday.

If you’re anything like me, your experience of Lent has likely been a mixed bag. Lofty goals may have quickly given way to sober realism, with “maybe next year” becoming a reoccurring refrain frequently found upon your lips!

At the same time, you may have experienced real victory over sin and freedom from habits that deform and dehumanize you. Yet even then, we are painfully aware of our frailty and need, reminded again that some patterns of malformed living are harder to break than we would like to believe!

Remember, Lent is rarely, if ever, all victory or all defeat. It is a season in which we are simultaneously aware of both the grace of God, and our own capacity for sin and evil.

Success in Lent is therefore not measured by your ability to break every habit or transform every pattern of being within the six-week window. In fact, the only way we fail in Lent is if we miss the invitation before us to encounter the life of God in and through the struggle.

The good news of the gospel is that you and I can participate in the grace of God in the midst of our broken and fallen state. And so, we press on towards the goal of Easter Sunday, hopeful, yet ever aware of our need for the Lord to see us through to the end.

Prayer of the Week

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Prayer for the Fifth Sunday in Lent

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