As we approach Lent, Holy Week and Easter, I want to invite you – gently but seriously – into the journey that the Church offers us at this most important time of the Christian year. This is not about adding religious busyness, but about making space: space for God, space for repentance, space for joy.

We begin Lent on Ash Wednesday, 18 February, and I would encourage as many of us as possible to mark this day prayerfully and deliberately. Traditionally, the Church begins Lent with fasting and repentance, and there is something powerful about starting together. On Ash Wednesday we will offer two services in church:

• 10.00am – BCP Morning Prayer with the Litany and Commination. Link here.
• 7.00pm – Holy Communion with the Imposition of Ashes. Link here.

If you are able, I would encourage you to observe a fast that day, according to your health and circumstances, as a way of saying with our bodies as well as our words: “Lord, I want to take this journey seriously.” 

Immediately before Lent, we are celebrating Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day, 17 February, with our annual Pancake Olympics, 4-6pm in the church hall and outside (weather permitting). This is a St Philip's Community Beacon event designed to bring people together, especially families: a fun event with activities and food - free entry. Shrove Tuesday is the last day before Lent begins, traditionally a season of fasting and preparation for the great feast and festival of Easter. Link to event here.

Throughout Lent, I am encouraging us to focus on three simple disciplines: prayer, generosity, and studying.

Prayer, in particular, needs two companions that we often resist: silence and fasting. Silence allows us to listen rather than fill the space with words. Fasting reminds us that we do not live by bread alone. We are encouraging everyone to consider a weekly fast during Lent. This can be shaped to your need: fasting from one meal, two meals, a whole day, or from something else that has a hold on you. The aim is not endurance, but attentiveness to God. In general, pray more.

The second discipline is generosity, which stretches far beyond money but does include it. During Lent, you might consider three simple practices: first, an intentional act of financial giving, including prayerfully reviewing your giving to St Philip’s as part of our shared life and witness; second, a gift of time, perhaps through volunteering, helping a neighbour, or offering practical support where it is needed; and third, a generosity of attention, choosing to be more present, patient, and open-hearted with those you encounter each day. These small, faithful acts train us to loosen our grip on what we cling to, and to reflect the self-giving love of Christ.

To help us with the third and final discipline of studying, Lent offers opportunities to learn together, ask questions, and deepen our faith. One of the best ways is through a small group. Connect Groups meet midweek, usually in people’s homes, and last around 90 minutes. Each session includes time to catch up, pray, explore the Bible in a down-to-earth way, and connect our faith with everyday life. Groups meet on Tuesdays at 11.30am and 7.00pm, Wednesdays at 7.45pm, and Thursdays at 7.30pm. Run weekly, Lent can be a very good time to try one out.

Alongside this, there are several parish Lent courses running:

• Start! Course – a relaxed course for people who are new to church or beginning to explore Christian faith. This will run by Revd Caitlin, Rolf’s wife, on Mondays at 5.30pm at the Vicarage.
• New to St Philip’s? – during Lent we will host an informal event on a Saturday or Sunday for those who are new or fairly new. This will be a chance to find out more about who we are, what we do, how you can get involved, and to ask any questions in a friendly, open space.
• Lent Course: The Sermon on the Mount – Wednesdays at 11.00am in church, following Morning Prayer. This course journeys through Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, exploring how faith shapes the heart as well as behaviour. Through Scripture, honest conversation, and simple spiritual practices, we’ll reflect on prayer, generosity, fasting, simplicity, and what it means to build our lives on solid foundations. This course is open to anyone who wants space to think deeply, pray honestly, and grow gently during Lent. Link here.

There are also some Deanery-wide opportunities you may wish to attend:

• Lent Quiet Morning – Saturday 7 March, 9.00am–12.00 noon, at Leeds Minster.
  Theme: Time for God. This quiet morning will include reflections on finding the everyday holy, being held by God in season and out of season, and the transfiguration of time. You are encouraged to bring whatever helps you reflect – a journal, knitting, or a doodle pad. You need to book – speak to me, Rolf.
• Study Morning – Saturday 21 March, 10.00am–1.00pm, at St Paul’s, Ireland Wood.
  Speaker: Jayne Manfredi, speaking on her book Waking the Women. Refreshments will be provided on arrival, and if there is enough demand the morning will conclude with a simple sandwich lunch. You will need to book – speak to me, Rolf.

Whether you join a group, attend a course, or simply set aside regular time to pray, read and reflect, my hope is that Lent will be a season where our minds as well as our hearts are opened afresh to God.

Lent is also a time to take Sabbath seriously. Making the effort to gather for worship, especially on Sundays, is part of how God re-orders our lives. Turning up matters – not as a box-ticking exercise, but as an act of trust and obedience.

During Lent you will notice a stronger emphasis on repentance and penitence in our worship. This is not meant to be gloomy or joyless, but honest and hopeful – clearing away what clutters our lives so that Easter joy can be real rather than sentimental.

All of this is preparation for what the Church calls the Paschal mystery. Paschal comes from the word Passover, and it refers to Christ’s passing through suffering and death into new life. Lent trains our hearts and habits so that we can enter more deeply into that mystery when we reach Holy Week and Easter.

The climax of this journey is the Triduum (pronounced TRID-yoo-um), the “three days” of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Day, which together form one great act of worship. These are not separate events, but one unfolding story of love, sacrifice and resurrection.

Please treat the Triduum as a holy obligation. None of these observances are requirements for salvation, which is God’s free gift of grace, not something we earn. Yet taking on holy obligations – especially entering fully into the Triduum – can deepen our faith, sharpen our love, and school our hearts in the costly, life-giving pattern of Christ.

Lent is also a time when some may feel a growing nudge to consider Baptism. From the earliest days of the Church, Easter was the primary time for people to be baptised, as new Christians were plunged into Christ’s death and raised with him into new life. To be baptised at Easter is to let your own story be caught up in the great story of resurrection: we are offering this opportunity again this year. If you are wondering whether this might be for you – whether you feel ready or not – I would warmly encourage you to speak with me during Lent. Sometimes the holiest step is simply asking the question.

Please note a few key moments along the way through Lent:

• Mothering Sunday – 15 March, when we give thanks for those who have nurtured and cared for us, both people and churches.
• Passiontide begins on Sunday 22 March, marked by our Service of Service. We will come in our “Sunday worst” to clean and prepare the church for Holy Week and for the many guests we will welcome. This is worship through service: we sing, we pray, and we scrub together.

Here is an overview of the services during Holy Week at St Philip’s

• Palm Sunday – 29 March, 10.30am: Family Service
• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – 10.00am: BCP Morning Prayer with reflection
• Maundy Thursday – 2 April, 7.00pm: Holy Communion with optional foot washing, followed by The Watch (8.30–10.00pm), a time of quiet prayer
• Good Friday – 3 April:
• 10.30am Family Service with prayer stations and a dramatic reading of the Passion
• 2.00pm Hour at the Cross – a contemplative service with extended silence
• Easter Day – 5 April:
• 6.00am Vigil leading into the Service of Light at 7.00am
• 8.30am Breakfast in the hall
• 10.30am Easter Celebration with Baptisms

My prayer is that this Lent will not simply be something we “get through”, but a season in which God gently reshapes us – individually and as a church – so that when Easter comes, we are ready to receive its joy.

With love in Christ,

Rolf