Dear Friends,

My prayers for the keeping of a Holy and Joyful Lent.

The traditional practices for the keeping of Lent are mentioned in the gospel for today: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

My sermon attached focuses on some ways of deepening our awareness of God's presence in our lives which is fundamental to our prayer and with all that is going on in the world around us making the intention perhaps to pray each day for one situation you hear about in the news is another simple way of marking Lent.

The early days of Lent also co-incide with Fair-trade fortnight (27th Feb - 12th March) You might like to take some time to be intentional about your food choices: how does what you eat impact the lives of its producers or the planet? Similarly, being intention about how we use money might enable us to set aside a little more than usual for a cause that we care about.

There will be three gatherings of a Lent Group aimed at reminding us about the "joyful" heart of keeping Lent - the first is on Monday 27th February 3.30-4.30 at the Rectory.

God Bless

Samantha