Coming Alive

 

I have this garden book I picked up at a charity shop a while ago, and all through winter I’ve been thumbing through it looking for the names of plants in my garden and what to expect to see growing there. Having only recently moved to the UK the plants are still becoming familiar to me (the difference between a plant and a weed for example!). This garden book, like a guide book tells me each month what to look for and what to expect.

A few days ago I flipped open to the chapter on March and my eyes fell on the title “Coming Alive”. And already it feels like this. The dark days of winter are retreating, giving way to longer light and my barren leafless garden is sending out small shoots of life like morse code messages spelling a coming invasion of life about to burst.

Lent begins this coming Wednesday. The word Lent means ‘the lengthening of Days’, after the dark, after the cold, it names the season of light coming in. Where Advent and Christmas are woven into the darkest weeks of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere) Lent, leading up to Easter is threaded into Spring, when new life gradually unfurls in the ever increasing light, bursting forth, declaring to all the earth that the darkest days are done. Lent is a gradual walk towards the warming long-light days of summer through the bursting, budding, flowering life of spring. Oh how ready I am for this light. This light that makes everything ‘come alive’ once more.

As this natural world around us is finally ‘coming alive’ again after winter, I am offering you the invitation to ‘come alive’ to the light of Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount and explore your own story with God in this season of lengthening-light days.

Jewish people viewed their written story, their law as something to be valued, enjoyed and loved… like treasure. Jesus’ ‘Sermon on the Mount’ is His re-imagining of the Jewish law with the heartbeat of the Kingdom pulsing through it and He invites us to engage with it, not as a bunch of rules to follow, but as the treasure He intends it to be for us. Treasure to build our lives on.Treasure given to us on the mountainside.

During the 40 days of Lent I’ll be sending you a short letter encouraging you as you climb the mountain each day to sit at Jesus’ feet in stillness with Him. Each letter will include a short reflection (from myself and others) a music video and other resources.

And to further encourage your ‘coming alive’ journey I’ve created a tool kit of extra resources for you…

A free printable Journey Map Lent calendar so you can plot your path through your mountainside trek, including excerpts from each days reading.

 

A free printable 40 day journal woven around Jesus’ ‘Sermon on the Mount’, inviting you to write your own way into His Kingdom story through a journalling exploration of Jesus’ own life-strengthening words from the mountainside.

     

Alongside this free printable journal, I have for you some printable scripture cards that follow the same journey through the Sermon on the Mount each day.  You can pin them on your refrigerator, carry them in your pocket, or display them in a treasure box as I have done.

Finally, you will also find here some fellowship book marks to use to assist you in taking this journey alongside other people, gathering a small group of friends to share with and pray with each week as you sit at Jesus’ feet on the mountainside.

These little gifts are all yours and all free. Share this invitation as widely as you want to.

These resources are downloadable here below and in our post box.

Journey Map Lent Calendar: Sermon on the Mount Lent Journey Map

Treasure on the Mountainside Journal: Treasure on the Mountainside Journal

Journal Cover: Treasure on the Mountainside Cover

Treasure Scripture Cards: Treasure on the Mountainside Cards

Fellowship Book Marks: Mountainside Fellowship

Are you ready for a mountainside adventure with Jesus? It begins this Wednesday. Let’s come alive to the living of His Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.

Blessings,

Liz