Connecting Lent and the Great Jubilee

FAITH NURTURING SERIES.

Connecting Lent and the Great Jubilee

During the Jubilee Year in 2000, we were invited to reflect on the Jubilee gifts and live them out in our lives. These Jubilee gifts are still just as applicable for our Lenten journey.

The following Psalm Prayer based on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 may give some food for thought for your Lenten journey.

There is a time for all creation under Heaven.

There is a time for Fallowness:

A time to begin and a time to cease

A time to grow and time to lie fallow

A time to reflect and a time to recreate.

There is a time for Forgiveness:

A time to forgive debts and a time to be forgiven

A time for sorrow and a time for joy

A time for anger and a time for peace.

There is a time for Freedom:

A time to set free and a time to be released

A time to heal and a time to be healed

A time for remembering and a time for forgetting.

There is a time for Justice:

A time to return what belongs to another and a time to receive

A time for righting wrongs and a time for weeping

A time to listen and a time to speak.

There is a time for Journey

:

A time to leave and time to return home

A time to set out and time to arrive

A time to welcome and a time to be welcomed.

There is a time for Jubilation

:

When we bring Good News to all we meet,

When we proclaim liberty to the captives in our lives,

When we help the blind to see,

When we let the oppressed in our family, work colleagues, parish family go free,

And we proclaim each day in our lives a ‘Year of Favour to the Lord’.

We may be tempted to think that the Jubilee was in 2000 and these gifts are not relevant to our Lenten journey in 2010.   I believe that there are many beautiful connections to be relished on reflection.

May this reflection on the Jubilee gifts provide you with fresh insight and focus in your Lenten journey.