We have four Sundays this year between the end of Epiphany and the start of Lent, and these help us to set the scene for Lent.

Today, 16th February, 3rd Sunday before Lent, we hear the Sermon on the Mount, as reported in Luke's gospel, with both its 'blesseds' and its 'woes'.

As we approach Lent, it is a good time to reflect on the ways in which we live out our faith, both through our deliberate actions but also through the sort of people that we are. “To be a Christian,” wrote Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “does not mean to be religious in a particular way ...but to be a real human being. It is not the religious act that makes the Christian, but participation in the sufferings of God in the secular life.”

We often give things up for Lent. But let’s try giving up something that cocoons us from the pain that others are feeling, which God suffers alongside them. Let’s reach through and be there for someone. And at least stand alongside them in the things that are hurting them.