Minister’s letter – March newsletter
Dear friends,
We are now in the season of Lent – a time when we travel spiritually towards Easter. Traditionally it has always been a period of self-denial and reflection, penitence even, as we identify with Jesus’ Passion and his journey towards Good Friday and the cross. Whilst as Christians we live with the knowledge and joy of the Resurrection always in our hearts, it is important that, during Lent, we do not arrive too soon at the celebration of that first Easter dawn, because the pilgrimage itself matters.
Years ago I climbed Snowdon with a good friend of mine and our respective children. Whilst the children took the climb in their stride – literally! – it was somewhat more of a slog for us adults. The lower slopes were easy enough and we enjoyed the summer sunshine as we gradually ascended, chatting happily. A couple of hours in and the gradient was a lot steeper, the sunshine had been replaced with drizzle, the cagoules were on and the chatter had reduced to necessary sentences only. We climbed through intermittent cloud and the cairns we passed took on something of a sombre aspect. When the mists cleared and we could see again down the mountainside, we understood all the warnings about the changeability of the weather and keeping to the path. It was easy to imagine what could happen if one wandered off it.
Eventually we reached the summit, the absolute top of Snowdon. The clouds that had threatened to ruin the moment rolled away and we looked back down the path we had trodden, amazed at the view below and the distance we had come. Our tiredness evaporated and we were buzzing with a sense of achievement and the sheer beauty of it all.
The thing is though, we could have taken the train and saved ourselves a lot of legwork. The view would have been just as glorious BUT we would have missed out on so much and it would not have been the same. The mountain-top experience owes a good part of what it is to the struggle of getting there, the resting places along the way (and the sense of being part of something bigger than just us, as we add our stones to the cairns) and the companions who walk with us.
This is true for our spiritual selves too and the days of Lent provide us with the opportunity to make a pilgrimage for our hearts and souls. What might we learn, who might we encounter, what might God have planned for us as we journey through the weeks ahead? My prayer for each of us is that we make this a time when we draw closer to God through prayer and reflection, a time when we deepen our fellowship with our ‘travelling companions,’ a time when we embrace the obstacles in our paths because of what they have to teach us and a time of knowing that we are treading in the footsteps of Jesus, our friend and our Saviour.
With every blessing,
Sharon