My thoughts this month are a bit out of joint, to use a Shakespearian phrase; February notwithstanding, there’s more than a touch of January about them, looking back and forward at the same time. This is because I’m reporting back a little of the Parish Away morning, which was a good, thought provoking time. The title was "What makes churches grow". There were abut twenty three of us and both parishes were well represented. Richard King, who led the morning, was very helpful and had just the right balance of theory and humour, and he gave us just about the right amount of time for our own thinking in groups and reporting back. Not surprisingly, the breadth and quality of our reflections was also very good and we have a wealth of ideas to work with for developing both parishes into the future. The PCC and Ministry Leadership Team will be looking at what has come out of the day and putting it together with other work which we have done recently in this area, and we’ll be able to report back to you in due course.

The looking forward part comes from the fact that we are soon to be at the beginning of Lent. It seems strange to be thinking about Lent so soon after Christmas, but there it is. To anticipate even more, Easter is the great Christian festival and I am sure I shall reflect more on this next month, but we should not neglect Lent, the period of preparation for Easter. Lent is definitely a penitential time, with ideas of fasting and even more serious ideas about our poverty in responding to the love of God. I would not recommend wearing sackcloth for the duration – or even for a part – of Lent, but we are running a few things to help in that line. We shall be running a Lent course, a series of meetings designed to get us into a reflective mood ready for Easter, and we’re going to suggest a Lent book, something for all of us to read and then get together to discuss, probably over some food, towards the end of March. More details on both will be available soon.

So in encouraging you to get into the season, I’m tempted to say ‘Have a happy Lent’. Though perhaps that’s not quite the point! Perhaps ‘Have a productive Lent’ might be nearer the mark.

With every blessing,

Rev Daniel Harrison, Vicar.