Many people find February to be the hardest month of the year. We have all had just about enough of winter and are longing for the days to get longer, the weather to grow warmer and our gardens to break into the glories of spring, although goodness knows what this will mean this year – it was so mild in December some of the bulbs in the Rectory garden were in flower for Christmas when they had no business to be. This year being a leap year, we
have an extra day of February to get through as well.

And perhaps the start of Lent may make us feel even gloomier. Ash Wednesday after all is meant to remind us of our sinfulness and our mortality. “Remember that you are dust and   

to dust you shall return,” we shall say as the cross of ash is placed on our foreheads – hardly cheerful words to lighten our days. But the hope comes in the next part of the words: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.” That is the Lenten call, to acknowledge that we don’t always get it right, but to turn our backs on our failings and resolve afresh to live as Christ’s faithful disciples, in the assurance that he will always forgive us and welcome us into his service.

Some of you will translate your faithfulness to Christ into action by giving something up for Lent. It can be a very good discipline especially if we have the courage to choose something we think we cannot live without. Not everyone finds it helpful or practical to give anything up. Many people find it more helpful to take something up for Lent – a Lent book, a course of study, a daily commitment to prayer and Bible-reading, or a good habit. Whatever we do, it should be because we believe it will help us draw nearer to God and become that little bit more like Christ, rather than something we do out of a sense of duty, or worse still, guilt.

Perhaps our observance of Lent can give us a helpful focus in these in-between days, in-between winter and spring, in-between Christmas and Easter, the two defining seasons of the church’s year. If we keep our eyes fixed on the promise of Easter, there will be light enough to keep us going.

.........Rev’d Anne-Marie