'n Uitnodiging na Lydenstyd

Annemarie Kidder het neergepen waar Lydenstyd vandaan kom, en vang iets vas omtrent die hartklop agter Lydenstyd. Lydenstyd is 'n seisoen waartydens jy op 'n innerlike reis kan gaan – waar jy doelbewus met God en jouself tyd spandeer. Dit vra afsondering, opoffering met die doel om eindelik te transformeer.

'Purify your inner life.' James 4 Msg

Die Lydenstyd-reis fokus op die tyd van Jesus se doop, sy tyd in die woestyn tot na sy versoeking (Matthéüs 3:13 tot 4:11). In hierdie bewegings, kan ons iets leer omtrent transformasie: om te verander moet ons woestyn toe gaan. In hierdie Lydenstyd van 40 dae nooi ons jou uit om ...

• Stilte en afsondering in jou daaglikse ritme in te bou.
• Offer iets op wat jy voel jy dalk verknog aan is.
• Doen die innerlike werk wat hierdie begeleidings in jou wakker maak.

Mag jy deur hierdie Lydenstyd dan ook duidelik God se stem hoor, dat jy sy geliefde kind is; en mag jy ook deur engele bedien word.

Johan Geyser

Kultuurargitek: Mosaïek

'The desert fathers and mothers were the inspiration for the church's season of Lent. In the fourth century, bishops visited these solitaries living in caves in the wilderness of Egypt and were inspired by die visible joyous witness of Christian discipleship. They wanted members of their parishes to catch a glimpse of the healing power of the solitary life. And since they could not arrange for caravans to bring all the people out into the wilderness, they resolved to bring the wilderness to them: For forty days prior to Easter, parishioners would enter wilderness territory, not out in the desert of Egypt but in their own familiar surroundings through a Lenten discipline, marked by abstinence. Fasting, simplicity and silence were to reconstruct the austere and fierce conditions of wilderness living; and instead of wrestling the demons in caves and monastic cells, believers would be setting foot in the cave of their soul. By eating less, doing less, and doing with less, they were brought face-to-face with the powers and demons that owned them, the habits that controlled them, and the possessions and attachments that had taken precedence over the place of God in Christ.'

~ Annemarie Kidder, The Power of Solitude