Dear Friends at St Martin’s,

I’m very much looking forward to being with you again this Sunday and I hope that Lent is progressing well for you.

In conversation with a colleague this past week, he pointed out that although nowadays we rightly focus on our journey towards the Cross during Lent , in the past the focus was on journeying towards both the Cross and the font. This was because Lent was the time when people were traditionally prepared for baptism at Easter. I hadn’t thought about this before, but it makes sense of this week’s Gospel reading, when Nicodemus asks Jesus what it means to be ‘born again’, i.e. baptised.

Even today we don’t baptise or conduct weddings during Lent (or Advent) as these are times of preparation and not the right time for new, celebratory beginnings. There are no flowers in church, no gloria, no alleluias, images and crosses are often veiled and everything is kept as simple as possible. The purpose of this is to highlight our reliance on God: when all the props are removed, our faith is laid bare and inevitably our gaze turns to the One who loves us so much that he sent his Son to live as one of us, and to die for us. Through our baptism we are all reborn in the Spirit and as we continue our Lenten preparation, I pray that you will know the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life.

With all good wishes,

Nicola Stanley

Canon Pastor and Vice Dean, Bristol Cathedral