Unless I am sorely out in my calculations, the next issues of The Marlpit and The Bridge will be with us immediately before Easter - which is on the 31st March. This is something of a relief as it leaves me free to concentrate on the more immediate matter of Lent rather than have to cast my mind forward to the very special message of Easter Day just a few days after Ash Wednesday!
So, let me ask you to do that as well - to focus on Lent. What is it about? How should we all observe it? The tradition, of course, it to 'give something up' - smoking, sugar in tea, sweets and so on. I wouldn't want to discourage anybody from doing that at all, for there can be some long lasting benefits in giving up something that is bad for you and Lent can be just the incentive needed for that.

The trouble with such traditional 'givings up' is that, by and large, they are negative or neutral and often self-centred. All the examples I have given are most certainly that. I would want to urge something positive - to take something on rather than give something up. We use Lent to remember Jesus' time in the Wilderness. This was a time when he took stock. When He took 'time out' to try to hear God's will for him and to understand what it was that he should do. It was a time when he made decisions about what He should 'take on' and how He should go about it. Jesus' 'Lent' led to a Ministry that was to be world shaking and world changing and that seems to me to be the example that we should look to in our own Lent.

There are many relatively little but positive things that we can all do. In the positive act of giving, in looking outwards, we can move away from the 'self centred'. If you need help with that, then you will find a supply of the Christian Aid leaflet 'Count Your Blessings' in the Churches. This contains daily ideas for your prayers and for your giving and we commend it to you. It is so easy, isn't it, to think of other people and other parts of the world as somebody else's problem? The truth is that ALL our fellow human beings are our concern and their problems are our problems. That is one of the lessons of 11th September 2001. Think about that! PRAY about that!

I have been dismissive of the personal in what I have said so far - deliberately - and so it may seem a little inconsistent to now urge a focus on self as well! The point I have wanted to make is that God wants us to look outwards and that our proper personal response to Him is to do that. Nevertheless, to be fit and able to show His face to others does demand that we are ourselves 'straight' with Him and this does need some inward looking. In Jesus' own Lent He sought to find God's will for Him in the world, but He also fought off His own 'demons' and came to terms with Himself - through prayer and self discipline. That example is also there for us to follow. What gifts has God given us? Are we using them as He wants? Are there changes needed in the way we live and the way we use our abilities which would benefit others? Lent is, in the tradition of the Church, above all else a time of preparation and renewal. Apply these questions to yourself, honestly and deeply, and you may be surprised at what emerges - it could change your life!

With all best wishes for a positive and creative Lent.

Chris Walter