March sees the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday (5th March). Traditionally Lent is a time of fasting, abstinence, prayer and penitence in preparation for the great feast of Easter. Many of you may well give up something you enjoy for Lent, chocolate and alcohol being popular choices.

Every year I will have a discussion with at least one person about how to best keep a good Lent. For some people it is a total abstinence, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Day they won’t touch what they have given up. For others whilst they give up things, Lent will take a break for significant holy days such as the Feast of the Annunciation and the Sundays in Lent. (Sunday is always a feast day as we celebrate together the resurrection.) Having a “day off” is a major reason why Saint Patrick’s day is a major holiday in Ireland.

Some people instead of giving something up, will instead take something on. As a Lenten devotion they may make more time for prayer, or engage in some focussed study. Prayer and study are always to be commended. If you haven’t decided on what you wish to do for Lent this year, why not say Night Prayer (Compline) every night. Night Prayer is a simple time of prayer and reflection and takes about 10 minutes. The Church of England has the service available for free on its website – search for daily prayer and select Night Prayer.

Whatever you do, take to heart the words of Jesus when asked about fasting – “And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you

(Matthew 6:16-18)

Obviously we don’t commit ourselves to fasting, abstinence, prayer and penitence in hope of a reward. We commit ourselves to these tasks in order to be more attentive to God and discern his will not just for us as individuals, but for our life together as a Church.

Those questions of who are we, what are we about, will be key questions as we begin to discern the future of our parish, and eventually what we would like in our new priest. It may well be a long process. It may well lead to a change in how we do things, when we do things, or even who does things. It may well feel like walking through a desert at times.

My prayer for us all is that we become more attentive, more prayerful. As a member of clergy I have to keep reminding myself of those words from my ordination – ‘You cannot bear the weight of this calling in your own strength, but only by the grace and power of God’. Wherever we are being led to, we go not in our own strength, but in the strength of God. We may not recognise the place we end up in, but we go knowing that God is with us.