Times of Refreshing


Last Sunday, the 4th in Lent, is frequently observed as Mothering Sunday, though this year there was little opportunity for the normal family gatherings. But that itself can be an opportunity, to reflect on the nature of family, and of love, both of which can and do exist in the absence of physical proximity. But in an older tradition, it is sometimes called ‘Refreshment Sunday’, which offered a respite from the rigorous observance of the fasting and abstinence traditionally observed in Lent. But this has been a strange Lent, compelling us to give up things we would not normally have chosen to give up - and again that might be an opportunity to reflect on what we really need. We might find we don’t need so many things; the sight of greedy and frightened panic buying challenging us to ask if we are not perhaps too dependent on ‘stuff’.

Christians might ask – how do we get Refreshment when the cafes, pubs and restaurants we usually frequent, and the company we enjoy with friends and family (especially on Mothering Sunday) are closed to us. The Bible does speak of people being ‘refreshed’ – sometimes literally, but often in a spiritual sense.
In Psalm 68, these two meanings are combined: “You gave abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance (Psalm 68:9.) Elsewhere, the Lord promises through Jeremiah that he will restore Israel, bringing them home from exile, when he “will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint” (Jeremiah 31:25.)

That surely resonates with the Psalmist’s frequent yearning for God: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1f) “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1.) The physical importance of fresh water in a hot climate leads us to reflect on the importance for our well-being of knowing God’s love and mercy.

Our modern world has largely lost that sense of thirst for meaning and purpose which is only satisfied by God, looking instead for refreshment in more immediate, but short-lived forms of satisfaction. Even among believers, there is perhaps little of that yearning which Augustine expressed – “O Lord, you have made me for yourself, and my heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.” Surely we should all yearn for something more than toilet rolls and pasta.

St Peter’s promise to the people in the days after Pentecost included the promise: “Repent and turn to God, that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you” (Acts 3:19f.) In other words, we need to turn back to the source of our life, and find rest and peace in him.

If this current world-wide crisis serves to recall us to our senses and to recognize what really matters to us, something good can result. The enforced inactivity for many can lead us to reflect on our lives, our values and our direction. What really matters? Time to ourselves can be time for God. Christians have no excuse not to pray for others –for those who suffer, but also for those who risk their own health in caring for them. Let this Lent be an opportunity to give up some of self-centredness, and some of our superficial hungers, and to find lasting refreshment in lives that reflect our true nature and our calling, to show and share the creative love of the Lord.

Meanwhile we can be sustained by Hope – that essential Christian virtue. Peter calls on believers to be ready to “give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15), which suggests that it is our hope as much as our faith that distinguishes us. The answer to give is that ‘God is, as he was in Jesus Christ, and so we have hope.’ It is that hope, perhaps, that we all unconsciously thirst for and need: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19.)  St Augustine is reported to have said “Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are Anger (at the way things are) and Courage to see that they do not remain that way.” It follows that hope is not just a feeling, but a motivation for life and for action – for a better world.


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