Lent Quiet Hour - Week 2

Christ in the Desert by Ivan Kramskoi, 1872

Poems, prayers and readings for our Lent Quiet Hours in the First Week of Lent, based on ‘temptation’, the theme of the Gospel reading for the First Sunday of Lent.

The season of Lent has been set aside as a time of self-examination, penitence, self-denial, study and preparation for Easter since the days of the early church. This year, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York are encouraging us to spend Lent reflecting on our relationship with the planet and God’s plea for us to Care for Creation. Take time out during your commute to and from work to spend a few moments in stillness and prayer during our Lent Quiet Hour at St Stephen Walbrook on Wednesday evenings from 6-7pm (except March 18th) and Thursday mornings from 8am-9am. The images, readings, prayers and poems in this leaflet may be helpful.  

Matthew 4:1-11
Gospel Reading for the First Sunday in Lent

Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,

‘One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,

‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,

so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,

‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’”

Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

A Rat surrendered here
Emily Dickinson

A Rat surrendered here

A brief career of Cheer

And Fraud and Fear.

Of Ignominy’s due

Let all addicted to

Beware.

The most obliging Trap

Its tendency to snap

Cannot resist-

Temptation is the Friend

Repugnantly resigned

At last.

Temptation
William Cowper

The billows swell, the winds are high,

Clouds overcast my wintry sky;

Out of the depths to thee I call,

My fears are great, my strength is small.

O Lord, the pilot’s part perform,

And guide and guard me thro’ the storm;

Defend me from each threatning ill,

Controll the waves, say, „Peace, be still.”

Amidst the roaring of the sea,

My soul still hangs her hope on thee,

Thy constant love, thy faithful care,

Is all that saves me from despair.

Dangers of ev’ry shape and name

Attend the follow’rs of the Lamb,

Who leave the world’s deceitful shore,

And leave it to return no more.

Tho’ tempest-toss’d and half a wreck,

My Saviour thro’ the floods I seek;

Let neither winds nor stormy main,

Force back my shatter’d bark again.

Fix the centre of my heart in yourself, O Lord, for only thus will I resist temptation and live according to your will.

After Meister Eckhart (1260-1327)

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
From Rowan Williams on The Lord’s Prayer

We have to see this first of all in the context of Jesus’ own day. His teaching often turns back to this idea that a great time of trial is coming. We’re coming towards a time when you really have to decide how much God matters to you; you really have to put your life on the line. “And lead us not into temptation” means lead us not into crisis, don’t, please God don’t push us into the time of crisis before you’ve made us ready for it. And that is a good prayer to pray, because for each one of us there are times of crisis when we discover what we’re made of and sometimes it’s not very pleasant and we realise we’re not up to it.

It’s connected with “deliver us from evil”, set us free. Set us free from all those things, the fears, the sins, the selfish habits that keep us prisoner and that make us unable to face crisis. It probably originally meant save us from the Evil One. Because the time of crisis is when the Devil, the enemy of humanity, is really making hay. He’s having a wonderful time, because at a time when there’s lots of fear and lots of uncertainty, then the Devil can come in and manipulate us and intensify, reinforce all that’s most inhuman in us.

And whether or not people these days believe in a personal devil, I think the idea that the principle or the power of evil coming in to make the most of our weakness and our fear, that still makes sense. And we can still quite rightly pray to be delivered from that.