A HOLY LENT

The theme for Lent this year is Creating Space for God. You’ll find full details in the coloured Lent Leaflet in the middle of this Magazine.

Lent is very early this year. The Date of Ash Wednesday (February 9th this year) is determined by the date of Easter. And the date of Easter is determined by the first full moon after the Spring Equinox, March 21st. The full moon is on Good Friday this year, March 25th, and so Easter Day is the 27th - almost as early as it can be.

It’s quite a busy time at Church at the moment. At last, the tenders for the St Alban's Project are about to go out, and in early March we should find out who the builders will be. The work is due to begin, soon, probably in May, and so there are lots of meetings with architects, lots of financial decision to make, and lots of fund-raising to do. Those closely involved are under considerable pressure.

And at St Mary's, the Parish Pantomime is just about to take place, the new Youth Group and Parent & Toddler Group are happening; the electricians have been into the hall to do essential repairs following a full electrical survey; we are expecting the heating company to return soon to make some improvements to the new hall heating; and there is work to be done on the Garden of Remembrance.

It’s a busy time! And the Christmas rush seems only to be just past.

So, it seemed a good idea to have Creating Space for God as the Lent theme. The Sunday sermons will be about how people in our congregations create space for God; the Wednesday evening Study Groups will focus on creating space for God through sounds, poetry, scripture, thanksgiving and art; and Sunday evenings will concentrate on the Passion of Christ through the Stations of the Cross; the Film, The Passion of the Christ, will be shown on March 14th. And all of this leads to the climax of the Christian year, the worship of Holy Week and Easter Day.