Reflection for the Fifth Sunday in Lent
By the Rev’d. Allison K. Dean
Listen to this reflection here.
(Find last week’s reflection here)
The collect for the Fifth Sunday in Lent reads,
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.
War in Europe. War in Asia. War in Africa.
Gangs and drug cartels running rampant in the Americas.
A trade war threatening to push the world into a recession.
Domestic abuse. Theft. Arson. Corruption at every level of society.
This is where the world is now. And most of us are probably wondering when the world will return to “normal”. But the truth is that in the long history of humanity, violence and chaos have been more common than peace. World War I was called the “War to end all Wars”, and then twenty years later another war broke out. Apartheid in South Africa – where the majority blacks were segregated and discriminated against by the minority whites – lasted for nearly fifty years, not ending until 1994.
I won’t go on any further. I simply wanted to illustrate a truth about humanity, which is that while we are capable of great good, our penchant for evil, darkness, and wickedness is deeply entrenched and engrained. Collectively, we find ourselves unable to always know what is right, and unable to always do the right thing, even when we know what that ‘right thing’ is. This is what St. Paul says in Romans 7, “For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (vv. 18-19).
What this all means is that we need God who …alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners…
You see, the only way to overcome our ever-present sin and shortcomings and failures is through God’s grace, by which we become different people, by which our wills are replaced with the will of God. And so, we pray, Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise. In other words, help us to love what you love, want what you want, think like you think. Didn’t Paul challenge the Philippians to do just that when he wrote, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…” (2:5).
Having the mind of Christ keeps us grounded and anchored when the world around us is pushing us to act contrary to the will and purpose of God. Having the mind of Christ allows us to control our own impulses which might lead us astray. This is why we pray for grace to love the commandments of God and to desire his will for us, so that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found. We are asking God to help us so that when trials and temptations inevitably come, so that when life feels long, hard and weary, we do not lean on our own understanding, but rather in all our ways acknowledge him (Proverbs 3:5).
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it
Seal it for thy courts above.
We were created male and female in the image of God. In the beginning we walked and talked with God face to face. Before sin entered the world through our disobedience there was no barrier between us and God. The end of this journey of faith, the end of this Christian life we are called to live, is for us to return again to that first state. To be shaped and moulded once more into who and what God has called us to be.
As we approach Holy Week, the most solemn time of the Church’s year, we engage in deep reflection on the great lengths to which God has gone to save, redeem, and sanctify us. The child born in the manger is the man who hung on the cross for us and for our salvation.
O may we keep, and ponder in our minds
God’s wondrous love in saving lost mankind.
Trace we the babe, who hath retrieved our loss
From his poor manger to his bitter cross.
Tread in his steps, assisted by his grace,
Til man’s first heavenly state again takes place.
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…