Purple - A colour hard to define

Our journey in Lent continues

The season of Lent has been observed for hundreds of years. Likely started in the fourth century afer the Council of Nicea, the way Lent is observed has changed depending on country, church and culture. Even today, the season of Lent takes on different practices for different people. For some their practice of Lent comes from their own church traditions, established over many years. For others their approach to Lent is novel and developed organically, borrowing a bit from various traditions. Through all the various ways to observe Lent in contemporary life, the amazing thing is that even after all these hundreds of years, the main emphasis on Lent is essentially the same. Lent is a time for solemn reflection on our faith as followers of Jesus and typically involves some action or physical response from us. The traditions of fasting, praying, almsgiving, caring for the poor, self-denial and more are still as relevant today as they were centuries ago.

In today’s prayer room we weave again with the colour purple, looking at how hard it is to define as a colour and how this difficulty to define purple parallels with how we try to define Jesus and how we live out our lives as followers of Jesus.

We’re also going to have a go at making the colour purple and find that this too is easier said than done, which feels like how hard it is to follow Jesus. We do our best, but invariably we fall short. Enter grace. This gift given freely to us by Jesus invites to pick ourselves up and try again.

If you’ve just joined us, make sure you read last week’s post too.

May today’s prayers bring you pause for thought and reflection, and may you feel the grace extended to you by Jesus.

On the journey

Caroline