Dear friends,
Warm and sincere greetings in the name of Christ.
Tomorrow (Feb 19) is Transfiguration Sunday. We climb the mountain and view the full shimmering radiant glory of Jesus Christ – the Son of God. From this point onwards, according to the gospels, the journey to Jerusalem and the cross was set before Jesus. The next stop for us through the Christian year is Ash Wednesday which encourages us to begin and enter Lent in the right spirit and with a cross shaped focus.
Those of you who like myself use the Fflad Y Brenin daily rhythm of prayer will be used to praying the following prayer of consecration on a regular basis;
Almighty God, in view of your great mercy,
we lay our lives down as a morning sacrifice for you.
Choosing to die to self,
we ask you to pour your mighty resurrection power through us,
that Jesus may be revealed and your kingdom come in power,
changing us and redeeming the world. Amen.
Notice the prayer draws us into both the power of the cross and the resurrection. It is a great prayer to use at the beginning of Lent. In the Christian life and pilgrimage, we set out on a journey of dying and rising with Christ. We die to our old self, and our sinful nature is well and truly crucified. We rise in and through the glory of the Christ’s resurrection. He grants us a new nature and the glorious hope of being changed and transformed into his image. We are in the sanctifying process of being changed from one degree of glory to another until we meet our precious Lord face to face. We therefore die with him, rise with him, and steadily undergo transformation into his glorious likeness. This is the path of salvation and hope. We walk it by grace and through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
My hope and prayer is that Lent 2023 will provide the space we all need to surrender afresh to the grace of God in Jesus, and that we experience the power of his transforming and restoring Spirit working within us and through us.
Grace, mercy, and peace to each one of you;
With love in Christ our Saviour,
Peter
Changed from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place, till we cast our crowns before him, lost in wonder, love, and praise. C Wesley
