Early Easter Eggs

  Welcome to February - and welcome to Lent!  

  Yes, this year Ash Wednesday is on 6th February and Good Friday is on 21st March. As far as I am aware, this is the earliest that Easter can be and I have heard it said that this will not occur again for another 41 years.

  According to my lists anyway, the next earliest Good Friday will be 25th March in the year 2016. So, for this year at least, the early arrival of Easter Eggs in the shops is partly excusable.

  Should we be bothered that Lent is following so closely behind Christmas?

  We might say that it would be nicer to have the great Christian festivals more evenly spread throughout the year. Some say that we should fix the date for Easter in the same way that the date for Christmas is fixed. Then, the argument goes, we will be able to have these festivals and work holidays better spread out and be assured of a good supply of daffodils for decorating the church!

  However, to do this would be to miss the point.

  Lent is a time of reflection, during which we remind ourselves of our need for God's saving love, grace and forgiveness that he gives us through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

  As frail human beings, the need we have to receive this love, grace and forgiveness is not determined by the seasons, but it is something that we need every hour of every day - summer, autumn, winter and spring.

  What is more, God blesses us with this love, grace and forgiveness every day, whatever the season or the date on the calendar.

  So, to be confronted with the prospect of Lent and Easter this early on in the year is no bad thing. It is a forceful reminder of the magnitude of what it is we are thinking about and celebrating. It confronts us with the fact that Lent and Easter are not celebrations of spring and seasonal physical re-birth, but of the need for a year-round spiritual re-birth which we are offered through the Jesus’ death and resurrection.

  So, as we move into this special period of Lent, may our thoughts and eyes be upon Jesus and not on the calendar. Don't worry about the lack of spring flowers. Look at Romans 5:1: ‘Now that we have been put right with God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’.

by Graham Clarke.