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Claire Lynch reads from Mark's gospel, day 5 of 47 in our Lent series. Music by Bern Leckie.

How do you feel about new things and change? It might be a mixture.

Perhaps change is exciting, freshening, invigorating. I know how my life was last week, but something is changing this week \u2013 couldn\u2019t that be amazing, full of fresh possibilities? If you won a \u201clife-changing\u201d sum of money, wouldn\u2019t you be overjoyed?

That depends. Maybe there are things I don\u2019t want to change. Come to think of it, I rely quite a lot on experience, predictability, routines, knowing what\u2019s what. Change is a challenge to that, difficult and stressful. If your doctor sat you down and said you needed to change, wouldn\u2019t you worry?

In these passages, I wonder what made Jesus\u2019 challenges of old orders and promises of newness and change sound more welcome to some than others. Does it depend on how much they needed change, or how much they had to lose?

Bring yourself and your thoughts about this to Jesus. Where do you know you need change? What will he encourage you to expect?

More Lent resources at severnvineyard.org/lent