Text for the Month
“Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.”
Joel 2:13
Lent arrives this year at a moment when the world’s brokenness feels especially visible. War, displacement, widening inequality, climate crisis, and growing polarisation shape daily headlines - and often, our own sense of powerlessness. In such a time, Lent speaks with surprising relevance. It reminds us that faith is not only about personal reflection, but about how we live responsibly and compassionately in the world God loves.
The ashes that mark the beginning of Lent place us all on equal ground, reminding us that every human life is fragile and precious. No one is disposable. This truth contrasts sharply with systems that devalue lives through poverty, racism, exclusion, or violence. Lent invites us to see the world through God’s eyes - and to let that vision unsettle us.
Biblically, the wilderness is never just a place of inner struggle; it is also where injustice is exposed and dependence on God is relearned. Jesus enters the desert before beginning a ministry that consistently sides with the poor, the marginalized, and the forgotten. His forty days of fasting prepare him not for comfort, but for courageous love. When we fast during Lent, we are not simply practising self-control. We question habits and systems that prioritise consumption over care and profit over people. Fasting can sharpen our awareness of those living with enforced scarcity, moving us from sympathy to solidarity, from charity alone to a deeper commitment to justice.
Lent also calls us to examine our own participation in injustice - often unintentional, but real. Where do we benefit from unfair systems? Where do we remain silent when voices should be raised? Where does fear keep us from acting? These questions are not meant to burden us with guilt, but to awaken us to responsibility rooted in love.
Hope remains central to this season. Lent leads toward Easter, reminding us that God’s justice is ultimately restorative, not destructive. Even small acts - welcoming a stranger, advocating for fairness, caring for creation, standing against discrimination - become signs of resurrection life breaking into the present.
As we journey through February, may Lent shape us into people who pray deeply, act courageously, and love generously. May our faith be visible not only in what we believe, but in how we stand with others. And may our community at the German YMCA continue to be a place where justice, dignity, and hope are lived out - day by day.
Sabrina Gröschel, Chaplain of the German YMCA in London