Lent: In the Shadow of Gethsemane

Introduction

During this Lent journey, we will spend 40 days in Gethsemane – there in the garden where Jesus pleads anxiously with His Father. We note His vulnerability, openness, and courage to wrestle honestly with His humanity.

You are invited to explore with Jesus how He enters into conversation with God, what role his own effort plays, what it means to keep watch, and how we can follow His example in times of temptation.

How to use this book

Each theme will guide you with the following:

1. Poem – at the beginning of each week, there is a poem that relates to the content. Use it to focus your thoughts and prepare your heart for the words you will read that week and the experiences you will share with Jesus.
2. Thought – you will be guided daily with a short contemplation and scripture. Guiding questions in each contemplation can help you to connect with your inner world. What emotion, thought, or image comes to you when you think of the word of the day and the questions posed to you? Respond to the invitations by participating in the daily exercises provided.
3. Prayer – a short prayer is provided daily. Use this prayer throughout the day to remind you of the day’s words and experiences. Repeat the prayer a few times as you go about your day.
4. Reflection – At the end of each week, you will be guided to reflect on the content and experience of each week that has passed. Use the reflection prayer to deepen your Lent experience.

Pain

Pain was nearly forgotten

I feel it once more

You touch me

Across my kidneys

There’s something there –

Stroke my heart

Take my damp hands in Yours

Not to heal

Just walk with me slowly, Lord

And let me be joyful in pain

And forget as much as I can

And be truly free

Love You-within-pain

Sink down into You

God, spirit into Spirit

(Translated from Afrikaans: Pyn was amper vergeet - I.L de Villiers )

**The poem says something about our humanity and the movements between the denial and acknowledgment of our pain and brokenness. It invites us to accept our humanity, not as an action of giving up or of hopelessness, but rather as entering into another way of being with God. Our spirit can only find life in His Spirit – in those “breathing-life-into-us” moments daily. As we sink into Him, we realise that even in the darkest, most anxious moments, we are not alone.

Pain was nearly forgotten

“For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.” – Gen. 3:19 (NLT)

Over the next 40 days, we will embark on a journey. On this journey, we are invited to set aside a specific time and to allow our imagination to be captured by Jesus’ suffering here on earth. We imagine ourselves being there, where He was, and we ask the Holy Spirit to touch our hearts anew and, in this way, move closer to the suffering Jesus. We ask for grace to cry with Him as we journey to the cross.

Early in the history of the church, Christians used the 40 days before Easter Sunday to prepare them spiritually for the remembrance of the big events of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Traditionally, it’s a time of sacrifice to feel something of Jesus’ suffering for ourselves. A lot of Christians give up something during this time of preparation, like meat, sugar, or social media, as a symbol of sacrifice.

The first day of Lent is called Ash Wednesday. On this day – at the beginning of our 40 days of preparation for Easter – we think about our own mortality. It is a tradition in many churches to receive a mark of ash on your forehead on Ash Wednesday. The ash is usually made from the palm fronds of the previous year’s Palm Sunday. So, from “Hosanna!” (palm fronds) to “Crucify Him!”

We don’t like to be reminded of our own mortality. Every so often, we manage, like the poem says, to forget about the mortality and pain of being human. We often would like to deny that it’s a part of who we are. But even if we suppress it or try to forget about it, we live with it every day. We are fragile and vulnerable. At the end of the Bible’s creation story, it says:

“For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.” – Gen. 3:19 (NLT)

Exercise

• Go and put your hands into the earth of your garden. Feel the texture. Is the soil warm or cool? Smell the soil in your hands. See how it falls through your fingers back to the ground, how the dust still clings to your fingers. Remind yourself that you are dust, part of the earth. You are made from something. You were given life through God’s breath, through his Spirit that was breathed into your nostrils.
• What emotion do you experience when you think about your mortality?
• Imagine God’s facial expression and tone of voice as He says to you, “For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return…” What do you think God is communicating through these words?
• Which vulnerability do you now want to bring before God?

Prayer: I ask for a deep consciousness of Your love and work in my life.