Lent began on Wednesday 14 February, Ash Wednesday - one of the earliest dates for a few years.

Lent is a season of preparation for the great Christian Feast of Easter...a preparation that lasts six and half weeks - 40 days (plus Sundays!). This year the three key words are preparation, penitence and vision.

Firstly, preparation. In this season we are aiming to prepare our hearts to receive Jesus anew on Easter Sunday morning. We're also preparing the church building. We came together on Saturday 10 February for a Big Clean Up. We're so grateful to all those who came to sweep, dust, mop, empty, polish and tidy. The church has gone through several rounds of decluttering in the last two years - this was another mark of progress.

We're going to give over some of our service on 17 March for a similar purpose - cleaning, polishing and preparing the worship space for Holy Week.

Lent is also a season of penitence. We want to encourage all Christians to more regular prayer, almsgiving and study of the Bible. One way to do this is to join one of our Connect Groups, but for Lent we've also started a Wednesday act of Worship, at 10am in church - a service of BCP Morning Prayer.

Finally, we're giving over time in Lent to sharpen our vision as a church. We've had a Listening service on 25 February where we spent time in small groups discussing the challenges that face our community. We want to be stirred up to serve the actual needs of the people of Osmondthorpe and East End Park. We're coming together again on Saturday 9 March for our VISION DAY.  All of this is going to lead to our Annual Meeting on 28 April, where we hope to relaunch our vision strategy and priorities for the coming years.

Holy Week and Easter are shaping up to be exciting too:

Palm Sunday - Sunday 24 March
10.30am - All Age Service of Procession with Palms and Passion Reading (starts outside Festival Foods)

Wednesday 27 March
10am - Morning Prayer
1.30pm - Victoria Academy Easter Service

Maundy Thursday - Thursday 28 March
11am - Chrism Mass at Bradford Cathedral
2pm - All Saints Primary School Easter Service
7pm - Holy Communion with Feet Washing
8-10pm - The Watch: prayers and silence in chapel

Good Friday - Friday 29 March
10.30am - Family Service with Prayer Stations and Dramatic Reading of Passion
2pm - Hour at the Cross

Easter Sunday - Sunday 31 March
6am - Dawn Vigil and Service of Light
8am - Easter Breakfast
10.30am - Easter Celebration with Baptisms