February 2012
Dear Friends,
February witnesses the end of the Christmas Season and the beginning of Lent. At Candlemas we remember that we have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light simply by trusting in Christ – the Babe of Bethlehem.
That, however, is only the beginning of the work that Christ wishes to complete in us. We are now to cooperate with him by allowing his faith and hope and love to expand within and among us. The resources available to you during Lent are an invitation to continue to grow in faith.
Christians need to be deeply interconnected, for purposes of encouraging one another in faith; of helping each other persevere in the face of difficulties and in order to broaden and deepen our understanding of the Christian life so that we can live the gospel more faithfully.
We are created for fellowship and friendship with God, given responsibilities as a worshipping community to care for God’s world and live righteously in it; to care for one another and live at peace.
Our life as a worshipping community should not be an escape into ecstatic visions, nor a retreat into a holy huddle, but should pervade even our domestic negotiations about cleaning the church and funding our mission and ministry.
The promise that carries us from Christmas into Lent is that God changes hearts, that God does forgive, that God renews every aspect of our life. As one prayer puts it: “Almighty God, in Christ you make all things new: transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace, and in the renewal of our live make known your heavenly glory.”
Lent offers the invitation to return to God in a very deliberate way and be transformed by His grace. For in the returning we are healed and through the healing we are renewed.
With best wishes,
Canon Thomas Woodhouse
Vicar of Royal Wootton Bassett, Priest-