Grapevine

Being in the Lockdown with minimal social interaction has been hard for a lot of people so the Government Route Map to navigate us out of the Lockdown was very welcome on Monday. Our children going back into normal schooling, the vaccine roll out and positive but cautious planning gives us all hope of a return to a near normal life later this year.

As we navigate our way through Lent towards Easter, a story we know so well, we have the opportunity to re-engage with the whole message of Lent and Easter. We can make Lent a time of growth in our faith with simple Lenten Disciplines. Two good disciplines are Prayer and Bible Reading.

Prayer

Add a new dimension to your prayer life by selecting one simple prayer practice to use during Lent. It can be

1. If you don’t pray at mealtimes commit to doing so at one meal a day and pray either before or after the meal. The goal is to cultivate a sense of gratitude for the gifts of life, including food and everything that makes life worth living.
2. When we retire at night to bed try the traditional prayer practice of Examen. It is a simple way of thinking back over the day (to examine it) and talk to God about it. Compline is a great service for helping us do this.

Reading our Bible

Become a daily Bible reader during Lent. In the Bible there are many great stories and we can find faith heroes and heroines and directions and inspiration for living. This year we have some UCB ‘Word for Today’ booklets available to help you. Also there is the scheme ‘Reading the Bible in a Year’, which once people get into reading this way find it is really revealing and strengthens their faith.

Lent is such a great time to energise our faith.

Rev Trevor