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Lent, lament and Lockdown

Lent is a time of self denial and of giving things up, and also a period of lament in the lead up to Easter where we remember the Passion and death of Christ before we celebrated the glorious resurrection.  Often this is a personal affair on the discipline side of things, even if it's a practice shared within your church community, but this year has been so very different. With the outbreak of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, the whole world has slowly gone into lockdown country by country, creating a strange sort of global “Lent” where everyone is having to practice self control and self denial. This has been underpinned with a sense of lament at the way thi...

Lent Day 23: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 21-30

...weep and lament as though vanquished. Though they may attack us with temptations and evil, ungodly thoughts, like fiery darts flung at our minds, we must remember that “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 Jn 4:4) and that by “much prayer and of discipline, that when a man has received through the Spirit the gift of discerning spirits, he may have power to recognise their (the demons) characteristics”, Anthony says, so that we may be like the Apostles who were “not ignorant of [Satan’s] devices” (2 Cor 2:11). Whenever I am weak, then I am strong Anthony continues with his teaching on demons and their deception...

Understanding the Ultimate Ransom

...lm 49 was lamenting and making a point about. The Psalmist writes in verses 6-9: …those who trust in their wealth boast of the abundance of their riches? Truly, no ransom avails for one’s life, there is no price one can give to God for it. For the ransom of life is costly, and can never suffice, that one should live on forever and never see the grave.  These verses highlight a stark reality (and something these prosperity preachers seem to overlook): no amount of earthly wealth can purchase eternal life or prevent the inevitable decay of death. Human riches, no matter how vast, are powerless in the face of the ultimate cost of redemption. As Christian...