The theme for our lent series is pod-destrian.  Based on those people who are so engrossed in listening to their ipods or moibile phones that they can walk into things or into the path of oncoming traffic.  For the next 6 weeks which in the Christian calendar is known as Lent we’ll be asking the question who or what are you listening to ?

Lent is the period of six weeks 40 days (not including Sundays) leading up to Easter, which is  the most important festival in the Christian calendar.  During the 40 days of Lent, Christians remember the time when Jesus went into the desert to fast and pray before beginning his work for God. During this time Jesus was tempted several times by Satan, but was able to resist.  Lent is a time of giving things up. For Christians, it is one way of remembering the time Jesus’ fasted in the desert and is a test of self-discipline.

There are many foods that some Christians do not eat in Lent, such as meat and fish, fats, eggs, and milky foods. Some Christians just give up something they really enjoy such as cakes or chocolate.

Lent starts after Pancake Day which traditionally people have used as the last chance to use up the foods that they would not be eating during Lent. Today people often give up chocolate or alcohol.

So this is a time when you might hear people talking about they might give up for Lent.  The idea being that this is a time when some self-discipline and self-control is exercised.  If you like it’s the Christian New Year, its when they make resolutions to be focussed on their journey with God.  People give up chocolate or crisps, watching TV or playing computer games.  The idea is that it’s supposed to be a challenge,  that you would need to be rely on God in order to be able to resist the temptation to give in.

This evening we have heard Joy and Paul share how Keziah’s arrival has been a key part of their journey and the peaks and troughs of that.  The fear and despair as well as the delight and happiness.

In line with our theme for Lent I’d like to ask you – who or what were you listening to as they shared their story?  Were you listening to people who because you know them, you were willing to believe their story, it stirred your emotions, left you thinking how would I have reacted in those circumstances?  Or was it too farfetched and whilst you know Joy and Paul well, its too big a jump for you, so you stopped listening or listened instead to a voice that explained away all that they said?  Either of those or anything in between is perfectly normal.

My challenge to you this Lent is to give up your scepticism or cynicism.  To resist the temptation to explain away all that happened to Joy and Paul as coincidence or fate.  You can go back to that way of thinking as soon as the six weeks of Lent are over.  I’m not asking you to give rational thought or switch your brain off.

I’m just suggesting that for a few weeks you might entertain the idea that God has been at work, that God may have something to say to you too, that God is big enough to handle all of the questions and doubts that you might have.  He’s big enough to handle your indifference too.  Joy and Paul are not alone in the Bridge community.  There are many others here too with stories to tell that seem to suggest that God is at work.  We don’t have all of the answers and it doesn’t always make sense but we are a group of people who in varying degrees have decided to suspend our cynicism, to be willing to explore what seems impossible, to be open to new possibilities.

Joy and Paul’s story tonight is that God has walked with them through a very difficult time, that there have been times when they have had very real doubts and times when they have known for certain that God has been with them.  It has also been a very real and at times hugely difficult time for those of who love and care for them.  What to say?  What to do?  At times we have felt so useless and incapable of finding the right words.  And yet many of us have known God carrying us and walking with us through it.

Joy and Paul were at one time given a very special picture of a pair of hands holding their unborn baby, protecting her from a too early arrival.  This picture has brought great comfort in times of great despair.  And yet here we are today, celebrating Keziah’s arrival.  She has already brought great change to the lives of the Hatfield family and will no doubt continue to do so.

Our story is that God is not distant, that he is interested in each and every one of us.  As Easter approaches it’s a good time to think again about what God achieved.  There’s nothing he wouldn’t do to reach out to us.  At Easter we remember that God actually came to earth as a human being.  He lived among us and knows exactly what its like to be us.  The whole idea of Jesus doing that was so that he can be a role model for what it means to be a human being living in relationship with God.  Joy and Paul’s story this evening demonstrates the power of the Holy spirit at work in ordinary human beings.  This is the same spirit that was at work in the life of Jesus.  We can keep trying to be better people, to be kind and caring and generous or brave and yet if we attempt this purely under our own will power we will always fall short, we will always run out.  God doesn’t want us to have to do all of this on own.  He wants to empower and transform our lives.  When Jesus died on the cross he clearly demonstrated that a human being who has lived their life in partnership with God, who has allowed God’s spirit to be at work in their life, will overcome.  We don’t need to live lives that have no purpose, we don’t have to live lives that trapped by the circumstances we have encountered, we don’t have to live lives that are valued by what we own or what we wear, we don’t have to live lives that are trapped by our past.  God would love for you to feel his love.  Will you give him a chance?

So who are you listening to?  Will you listen to Joy and Paul’s story and think it’s worth considering?  For the next six weeks you could participate in Lent by giving up something.  Will you give up your indifference, your scepticism, your fear, your pride?

When the rain is blowing in your face,
And the whole world is on your case,
I could offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love.

When the evening shadows and the stars appear,
And there is no one there to dry your tears,
I could hold you for a million years
To make you feel my love.

I know you haven’t made your mind up yet,
But I would never do you wrong.
I’ve known it from the moment that we met,
No doubt in my mind where you belong.

I’d go hungry; I’d go black and blue,
I’d go crawling down the avenue.
No, there’s nothing that I wouldn’t do
To make you feel my love.

The storms are raging on the rolling sea
And on the highway of regret.
Though winds of change are throwing wild and free,
You ain’t seen nothing like me yet.

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true.
Nothing that I wouldn’t do.
Go to the ends of the Earth for you,
To make you feel my love

Bible reading: John 3: 16

This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son.  And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.  God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was.  He came to help, to put the world right again.