Team Rector’s Letter March 2019
‘Dry January’?
‘Go Sober for October’?
‘Movember’?
‘Veganuary’?
It seems like there are an increasing number of initiatives that encourage us to give things up to support one cause or another. We could choose to give up drinking alcohol, give up eating meat, or even, for the chaps, give up shaving and grow a beard!
But I have to say, that the Christian Church is way ahead of the game on this one. For centuries, Christians have been observing a time of simplicity during the six weeks before Easter. It is called Lent, and in the words of an old Prayer Book, Christians are called to ‘keep a Holy Lent’.
This is not to be regarded as a forty day endurance test, or a bleak, boring and restricted time. Rather, Lent can be an opportunity to slow down and reflect, to have a quiet look at our lives, and consider what there is there to be valued and cherished, and in contrast, consider what things have accumulated in our lives that are weighing us down.
One writer told the story of watching a sailor working on his upturned boat during the winter, scrapping off the barnacles that had accumulated there. Not sure how accurate a picture that is in terms of good seamanship, but you will see my point!
We need to take time off from the busy-ness to reassess our lives and our commitments. We need to metaphorically ‘scrap off the barnacles’ of all those things we have got ourselves involved in without really thinking through just how we are going to fit it all in. We have become a tired generation, over-committed, over-stimulated and over-stretched. We are in danger of becoming too busy to notice the important things.
Someone has just sent me a picture of the daffodils which have just come into bloom in the church grounds. To my shame, I hadn’t noticed. I suppose I’ve been too busy!
So, I’ve decided!
I’m not giving up chocolate for Lent... I’m giving up busy-ness! Will you join me?
Reverend Ren Harding (Team Rector)
contact me at The Vicarage, 6 Tile Kiln Lane.
01322-528923 renharding@hotmail.co.uk