Our Lenten Journey

We are soon to embark on the Lenten journey together again. The reminder of our mortality on Ash Wednesday, each of the Sunday readings, and then the events of Holy Week all point to the truth that God is ahead as well as alongside us as we journey. Jesus responds in unique ways to his suffering, and encourages us to react similarly. This is a life long journey, but we can lean on each other and on all the signs of Spring’s new life beginning to move us out of winter to summer.

The Stations of the Cross are permanently on the walls of our church, but they take on significance during Lent and up to our Good Friday Liturgy. You don’t have to wait till Good Friday to walk around the Stations. We have liturgies to walk round during the week or after services, alone or in small groups, and we also have a liturgy for the Station markers in Tobit’s Trace. They will be on the table as you enter church. You might choose also to ‘walk the Stations’ outside on the car park labyrinth, turning as you would on any journey.

The Stations main purpose, it seems to me, is to remind us that we all have a part to play in the story of Holy Week and Resurrection. You might want to ponder how it felt to be Simon of Cyrene, the women weeping at the roadside, Pilate, even Mary, the mother of Jesus. With your imagination, try to place yourself on the way of the Stations, and let yourself enter into the deep questions of life and hope that the Stations offer. Perhaps you have a specific question you are facing in your own life. Perhaps walking the Stations will offer some new insight or action.

May something good happen during Lent for you and those you love!

God bless,
Rev Helen