From the Chaplain - Edition 2 - 2022

Next Wednesday 2 March is Ash Wednesday, beginning the Christian six-week season of Lent. This may not be immediately significant to you, but it does invite consideration. All the world’s major faiths have festivals, feast days as markers of celebration and change. Such special days spare us from life’s repetitive routines which can make every day look and feel like the one before. As an old Arab proverb – borne of travels in desert climates - says, “A life without festivals is like a road without an inn.”

Lent for people of faith is a time of reflection and renewal. As the Christian story prepares for recall of Jesus’ giving of himself in Jerusalem, Lent opens a specific timely opportunity for thinking about how we live in relation to others. The ‘give something up’ aspect of Lent is half the equation; the other part is ‘what practice or discipline will I take up in its stead?’ Even for a moment.

We will be marking this change of (spiritual) season in Chapel next week.

I offer the wider community here one of the prayers we will be using:

God help us to change.
To change ourselves and to change our world.
To know the need for it.

To deal with the pain of it.
To feel the joy of it.
To undertake the journey without understanding the destination.
The art of gentle revolution. Amen.

A Prayer of Michael Leunig

Rev Phil Hoffmann
Chaplain