The Epworth & Belton Group of Churches

Reflection for February - From Epiphany Light to Lenten Ashes

This month of February places us in a gentle, often overlooked stretch of the Church’s year. We are living in what we call Ordinary Time — those weeks between the close of Epiphany, ending with the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, or Candlemas, and the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, this year on 18th February. Nothing flashy. Nothing dramatic. And yet, this is where much of real life — and real faith — actually happens.

Ordinary Time doesn’t mean unimportant. It simply names the steady rhythm of following Christ in everyday life.

As we prepare ourselves for Lent, and for this year’s Lent Course, ‘Living in Love – a Lenten Journey’, we’re invited to notice how love is already being practised among us — in church life, in our villages, and in the wider world. Even as global headlines speak of tension and unrest, including the current strains being felt in Minneapolis, we’re reminded that love is not passive. It is something lived patiently, often quietly, in the midst of complexity.

I was reminded of this while watching someone tending a winter garden — trimming back dead growth, clearing away what no longer served a purpose, not to make it beautiful now, but to prepare it for what would come later. From the outside it looked like loss, but it was really an act of hope. Preparation is rarely glamorous, yet it is deeply faithful.

That is very much the invitation of this season. In Ordinary Time, we learn to live in love before Lent even begins. We practise attentiveness, kindness, and honesty with ourselves and with God. Scripture gently reassures us that God is at work here too: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 145:8). Steadfast love — not hurried, not fragile, but faithful through every season.

As we move from Epiphany’s light, through Candlemas, and towards the ashes of Lent, we are not leaving God behind. We are being led more deeply into life with God — discovering that love is not only for holy seasons, but for ordinary days as well. And in that steady, trusting rhythm, we find quiet joy and lasting hope.

A prayer for February

Faithful God,

meet us in these ordinary days.

Prepare our hearts for the journey ahead,

teach us to live in love now,

and help us trust your steady presence

in all that is and all that is to come.

Amen.

With every blessing

Paul

Revd Canon Paul Wilson

Rector of the Epworth Group of Churches

Priest-in-Charge of the Belton Group of Churches

Assistant Curate of the Crowle Group of Churches and the Haxey and Owston Ferry Plurality

Rural Dean of the Isle of Axholme Deanery