Dear friends,
This month sees the end of the Christmass Cycle with the Feast of Candlemass. For entirely selfish reasons, the sung mass will take place on the eve of the feast at 1930. This will include the usual candle-lit procession from the porch to the altar. February 2nd is the actual Feast Day and there will be the standard midday mass for those unable to be present on the Thursday evening. Come and celebrate the Presentation of the Christ in the Temple.
This month also sees the start of the holy season of Lent. Ash Wednesday is on the 14th and masses will be celebrated at 0900 and 1930. Come and receive the ashes as a sign of penitence and make a good start to the penitential season.
I have been trying to think what to do this Lent as a special religious activity. We have usually had study groups and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament for half-an-hour before all masses. I suspect that meeting together to study has ceased to be the draw that it once was. I am more energized by the idea of spending an hour in church in silence prior to mass – with or without the Sacrament exposed. My plan is to do this every Sunday, as we have in other Lents, from the start of Morning Prayer. Prior to weekday masses the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed in the Chapel of S. Thomas for an hour. Some may wish to sit in church and spent a time of silence in the (unheated) space. Morning Prayer will be said as usual – but without the preliminary discussion and friendly conversation. I am not even sure about praying. I quite like the idea of simply being in God’s House and doing whatever comes to mind. It may be contemplating a window or an icon or statue. It may involve reading the Bible or some other religious text. It may be centred on reciting a single text, a Taize chorus or suchlike. It may even be a time for day-dreaming, sleeping, or simply being there. Participants may wish to talk about their experience after mass. I am hoping that there will be no conversation between the end of the prayer-time and the beginning of mass. Perhaps we could take our cue from those religious orders which communicate by signs? May I emphasise that there will be no arriving time. Come when you want to. Don’t be afraid to enter the chapel after exposition has started. Move around the church as you desire. Use the space and the time – just don’t talk!
In addition, there are a number of Office Books (Prayer Books) which provide daily Scripture and prayer. The one that we use publicly in church is available to be borrowed – or purchased for £5. If you are not sure how to use it then come on a Sunday am, Tuesday am, Wednesday pm and/or Thursday am when it is recited within a group and is easier to grasp.
The Lent Lunches (following the Friday midday mass) used to be very popular but now seem to attract only the Friday regulars together with 2-3 others. There was a time when up to twenty took part. We provide soup, bread, cheese and hummous, tea and coffee. There is a collection taken for the work of the church in Ho Diocese, Ghana. Come and make this an occasion for prayer, fellowship and self-offering.
Stations of the Cross will take place on the Fridays when Stations do not form part of the Sunday liturgy for that week. In other words not the 23rd February or March. These will commence at 11am.
The Lent Lunches (following the Friday midday mass) used to be very popular but now seem to attract only the Friday regulars together with 2-3 others. There was a time when up to twenty took part. We provide soup, bread, cheese and hummous, tea and coffee. There is a collection taken for the work of the church in Ho Diocese, Ghana. Come and make this an occasion for prayer, fellowship and self-offering.
Stations of the Cross will take place on the Fridays when Stations do not form part of the Sunday liturgy for that week. In other words not the 23rd February or March. These will commence at 11am.
Lent boxes are available if you wish to support the Additional Curates Society or the Church in Ghana – or both.
Finally, there are the Lent devotional books which Marie has ordered. They cost £2 – 25p each and provide material for daily use in private, together with other articles on a Lenten theme.
I hope that this will provide a period of refreshment after a particularly gruelling December/January. There was a glimpse of pleasant weather the day I write this – a reminder that the relentlessly cold and drippy winter does have an end. Who knows, maybe the coughs and colds will disappear and we will all be back at mass en masse.
So, have a wonderful Candlemass and a refreshing Lent. Most clergy view Lent as an ordeal. I am hoping that this year it will be an occasion for renewal. The purpose of being in church or chapel in silence is primarily to open ourselves to God’s quiet voice in our souls. A few weeks ago we heard the story of the infant Samuel spending the night in the Temple in Jerusalem and being woken by the voice of God calling him. Let us cultivate such silence and stillness that the voice of God may be heard in our time and in our community.