Dear friends and families, 
  
Today is Ash Wednesday, so seven weeks of Lent lie open before us. During Lent, we learn the discipline of discipleship (the two words mean essentially the same thing and come from the same root). In effect, the discipline of Lent is a way of learning how long we can bear to wear the cross before we feel compelled to take it off and hide it. That was the feeling I had when this morning we have had the sign of a cross on our foreheads using ash. It was made from burning the palm crosses from last year’s Palm Sunday service. The cross drawn on our forehead was very visible, so people will see it everywhere we go after the service. Some will understand and others will think ‘how weird!’ For that reason, many of us will leave the service feeling more than a little self-conscious I observed. This morning, we were reminded of Jesus’ saying that “ I am the gate for the sheep” John 10:7. So, in this Lent season we can open the gate for the things please our God and also close the gate for all the things that not only hurt us but also hurt our almighty God. 

May the Lord bless us as we yield to His easy yoke of love and live a Lent of great holiness. Amen.

Here is a poem for Ash Wednesday by Jan Richardson from her book, Circle of Grace. 
  
All those days 
you felt like dust,                                                                        
like dirt, 
as if all you had to do 
was turn your face 
toward the wind 
and be scattered 
to the four corners 
or swept away 
by the smallest breath 
as insubstantial 
did you not know 
what the Holy One 
can do with dust? 
This is the day 
we freely say 
we are scorched. 
This is the hour 
we are marked 
by what has made it 
through the burning. 
This is the moment 
we ask for the blessing 
that lives within 
the ancient ashes, 
that makes its home 
inside the soil of 
this sacred earth. 
So let us be marked 
not for sorrow. 
And let us be marked 
not for shame. 
Let us be marked 
not for false humility 
or for thinking 
we are less 
than we are 
but for claiming 
what God can do 
within the dust, 
within the dirt 
within the stuff 
of which the world 
is made 
and the stars that blaze 
in our bones 
and the galaxies that spiral 
inside the smudge 
we bear. 
  
Have a blessed lent season.  
  
Rev Kathreen Shabaz

Dear Friends 

A slightly different view from my desk today! I’m currently based down in Cambridge at the theological college I work for. Whilst sitting here, I was reflecting how the scene I photographed, must have remained pretty much the same for over a hundred years, inspiring the many occupants that have resided in my current room. There is something quite reassuring about things that remain the same, and conversely, when things are altered, it can throw us. (I wonder if I am alone in mourning the fact that the drink Lilt, a brand I have known for over 50 years, is to be re-named 'Fanta Grapefruit and Pineapple!?').  

However, change can be good for us. In the field of physical exercise, rather than always following exactly the same routine, a change of activity can shock the body into new muscle growth and development. I believe this could be true for our spiritual life too. Rather than communing with God in the same way; a set routine whereby we might be operating on auto-pilot, why don’t we look in the forthcoming season of Lent, to risk some changes. Perhaps praying at a different time of day, or in a new way. Here are some examples.

As for me - after posting this email, I’m going to continue to gaze out of my window... and pray!

Keep safe
Keep in touch
Keep the faith.

Simon

Dear friends and families, 
  
As we are getting closer to the lent season, only twelve days to go. I was thinking about the word “temptation”. 
  
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness where, for forty days, he was tempted by the devil. Luke 4:1 
  
The three related passages Matthew 4:1–11, Mark 1:9–13, and Luke 4:1– 13 all describe Jesus being tempted during a forty-day period in the wilderness of the Judean desert. He was tempted three times. On each occasion, the devil misquoted scripture to tempt Jesus and, on each occasion, Jesus responded by quoting a different verse from scripture to explain why he would not fall for the temptation.
​  
Temptation is the desire to have or do something, especially something that is wrong, or something that causes an improper desire. That’s why we might say, ‘I’m tempted to kill/steal tell lies or gossip’, and so on. Some parts of the church will say that temptations come from the devil, others will talk about ‘the powers of evil’, while others again will prefer to think in terms of desires contrary to God that come from something deep within us.
​ 
‘Original sin’ is one phrase that tries to explain this third sense. The reason why we need to think about temptation is that (if the thing we are tempted about is really something wrong) it always seeks to take us away from God. 
  
The subject of the temptation may be big and bad, or small and unremarkable. What matters is that giving in to temptation makes us weaker, in a spiritual sense, because giving in to temptation moves us away from God. Resisting temptation, then, is not about calories or laws, but about obeying God to belong to Him. In fact, we fulfill our spiritual destiny whenever we refuse to give in to temptation.
 
May, God protect and strengthen us in our everyday lives and give us the wisdom to do what pleases our Almighty God. Amen.
  
Have a blessed day. 

Rev Kathreen Shabaz

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ;" Romans 8:14-16

Dear Friends 

One of my guilty pleasures is binge watching, and one TV series I have been back cataloguing recently through the ITVX streaming service, is Long Lost Family. If you’ve never watched it, it is hosted by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell and features moving stories of separation where, after many years, family members are re-united or indeed introduced to each other for the first time. The climax to the show is when the subjects physically meet for the first time, amidst hugs and indeed tears (which I’m not ashamed to say are mirrored by myself when watching). There is great joy expressed with many exclaiming;  “I feel for the first time that I truly belong and that I’nm not alone!” Emotional scenes indeed.

When watching a couple of days ago, I was reflecting how those same sentiments (and indeed emotions) also apply when folk discover for the first time, that they have a place in the family of God. That through Jesus, we have an identity as loved children of the living God, a blessing that we can share with our many Christian sisters and brothers. Church is our true family setting, and God our loving parent. 

Have you fallen out of touch with your long lost Christian family, or indeed your heavenly father? If so, please don’t feel you have to remain a stranger to both. 

Keep safe
Keep in touch
Keep the faith.

Simon