New Community's 40 Days of Lent - a time to renew and strength our relationship with God through spiritual practices, and out of this, a time to be generous.

Lent - Traditionally the time when followers of Jesus would prepare for Easter, the focus would be on self-examination, repentance and self-denial.

Lent 2023 - the 40 days (excluding Sundays) leading up to Easter.   Wed 22nd Feb - Sat 8th April

Imagine if, by the 8th of April, you were encountering God afresh and had seen profound change in the world around you.
It could be so! Are you going to join the adventure?

We will each learn to Immerse or Pause in ways that are helpful to us to stop and be aware of God’s presence.
We are all different and our Pause will be different.
Some very helpful elements to include in any Pause…

Stopping:
Sounds obvious but it is easy to slip into habits of Pausing on the run!! To Pause – Stop. There may be parts of your Pause that involve movement – great – but to start your time, first stop what you are doing. Trust God that the world will keep turning, that the very best thing you can do is stop.

Awareness:
Spend some time just knowing that you are in God’s presence and rest there. For you that might mean imagining God with you or you saying a verse and stilling your mind (“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” Ps 37:7 or “Be still and know that I am God.” Ps 46:10). Distractions will come, just bring your thoughts back to awareness of God with you.

Silence:
Include moments of saying nothing, giving God a chance to bring something to your mind. Don’t rush the end of your times, allow God to speak to you.

The Bible:
Each day try and include a longer pause when you open God’s written word the Bible.