Currently reading (and recommending):
Liz Dodd “Easter in Disguise” The 2026 Lent Book
Sara Maitland “A book of silence”
Fun Fact of the week: Two cows have arrived at the St. James City Farm and they are the largest cows I have ever seen, absolutely enormous! Make sure you go and see with your own eyes.
I have spent some of the week preparing services and materials for lent. Lent is a time of self-examination, penitence, and self-denial before we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Day and renew our baptism vows. The 40 days of Lent remind us of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness. The season starts on Wednesday (7pm) with a service at St. James where our foreheads are marked with a cross made from the ashes of last year’s palm crosses. The church will be kept bare of flowers and decoration to reinforce the serious and austere nature of the season (The exception to this is the 4th Sunday in Lent – Mothering Sunday when joy may once again be experienced for a day!). There is a temptation in Lent to get very self-absorbed and remove ourselves from others to be more focussed on God.
The readings we will hear in church on Sunday are from the Transfiguration when Jesus is made known as the Messiah in front of a small group of witnesses. The temptation for those present was to remain on the mountain top, dwelling in the Glory of Christ. But they are told to go back down the mountain, back into the lives of ordinary people. It is in the world, not apart from it, that we discover most about God and most about ourselves. So, as well as times of prayer and times reading scripture and other devotional writings, I hope that during Lent you will seek to learn more about God through engaging more fully in the life of your neighbours, the life of the church, and the life of those you live and work with. Lent is a time for discovering God in the present moment; in the realities of your everyday life and struggles. The God of the cross, the God of the desert and the God of Glory and Resurrection are one and the same. We will all, I hope and pray, spend some time up the mountain with God but let us not put up tents and stay there; there is a whole world down below where Jesus meets each one of us, fully human, fully divine.
As always, if you would like me to pray for, or have a conversation about anything then do get in touch. I am available to listen and share in whatever might be arising for you at this time.
"Nothing can separate us from the love of God revealed to us in Christ Jesus" Eph8:38-39
With peace and blessings,
Rev Steve
07503164309
(My day off this week is Friday (and a holiday day on Saturday)