Dear Friends
Lent means Spring. It’s a delightful phrase I came across when I once visited the community at Taize in France, it’s a bit less misery and a bit more joy. Lent is a time when we reaffirm our relationship with God our loving parent. It’s a time when we consider our relationship with God and our community, but always in maturity. We get things wrong, the joy of our faith is that there is always an opportunity for change and transformation. We are not crushed by our failure, but encouraged to look at our life and our relationships in the context of hope. So what ever we choose to do this Lent, let’s make it a source of joy.
Please use the resources we have available.
Our Lent course Grit and Grace is designed to deepen our prayer life, to help us make sense of prayer, even when things get difficult.
Our daily bible readings are available on line or from the back of church.
There are also materials at the back of church which you can use as a family.
Our Lent appeal this year is for Crosslight, our debt counselling service. Although the service relies on volunteers as assistants, it also requires a paid scheme manager which is Michele and we need to make a payments to the central Crosslight board of trustees to cover the cost of training and insurance. Michele has been lucky to source funding streams to help but the PCC has committed to make a contribution of £6,000 this year toward the cost of running the service, our Lent appeal will help towards this contribution.
Simon
Dear Friends
As we start the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday this week I came across this sonnet written by the poet priest Malcolm Guite which I would like to share. I find these words very poignant and worthy of reflection particularly during the coming 40 days..
Receive this cross of ash upon your brow,
Brought from the burning of Palm Sunday’s cross.
The forests of the world are burning now
And you make late repentance for the loss.
But all the trees of God would clap their hands
The very stones themselves would shout and sing
If you could covenant to love these lands
And recognise in Christ their Lord and king.
He sees the slow destruction of those trees,
He weeps to see the ancient places burn,
And still you make what purchases you please,
And still to dust and ashes you return.
But Hope could rise from ashes even now
Beginning with this sign upon your brow.
Wishing you a very blessed and holy Lent.
Mother Eileen