In our go anywhere at anytime, 24 hour shopping, all day surfing, strawberries all year round society we live in, I think I have the perfect excuse for not ‘spring cleaning’ in the spring!   I don’t have to sort through the files in the study in the spring, I can do them anytime!  That’s a relief; I’ll put it off to the summer, perhaps.

 However, as I sit at my desk in the Rectory study to write this article on a bright, but cold spring day in early February, I am persuaded that there is something appropriate about connecting the spring season with the process of having a sort out.

 The season of Lent, which starts on 1st March, is an opportunity for a spiritual sort-out that is also very apt at this time of year as nature gets ready for a season of new life.  During Lent we will use a new order of service for our 9.45a.m. Service, some of which is based on the words of Psalm 51.  The psalmist is in need of a spiritual spring clean and says, ‘Create a pure heart in me, O God, and put a new and loyal spirit in me.’

 Getting started on those files requires a decision of the will, but the task is do-able.  This is not true of getting things right with God.  However much we try, there are some corners of our lives that we are not very proud of, where we struggle to be either the person we want to be, or the one God wants us to be.   The psalmist knew this well, and so asked God for a ‘pure heart’ (desire).  Although Lent is a time for looking at ourselves, it is also a time for reaching outwards to God to receive a new start from him, which he offers us through the work of Christ’s death on the Cross.

 We could put off this spiritual spring clean for another time of year, or we could enter into the spirit of the Lent season and ask God to renew us from the inside out.  Elsewhere in this edition of the ICN, you’ll find information about activities designed to help us this Lent – please join in where and when you can.

God bless.

Adrian

Jan 22^nd     George Owen-Thursfield
                  Miles Owen-Thursfield
Feb 12^th      Maisy Elizabeth Woodward

Cremations at Breakspear Crematoriums

Jan 17^th      Grace Edwina Eileen Ware (age to be reported later)

Feb.2^nd       Douglas Walter Woods, aged 85
                  David Abner Beamon Davies, aged 83
       3^rd       Donald Lambert, aged 85 (after service in St Giles’ Church)
       14^th     Gerald Robert Prescott, aged 83

Funerals:
Jan. 19^th     Frederick George Gray, aged 91 (Burial after Service at St Giles' Church)

Circumstances led me to preach a sermon on Psalm 30 quite recently. It is one of several psalms that trace the journey from a complacent, untrammelled life to a time of great distress, prompting a fervent appeal to God and a return to wholeness

 During the past few months several people I know well have been through difficult times for one reason or another. It has also been a time when various aspects of the global situation have caused anxiety to many people. Psalm 30 provides a valuable reminder of the importance of God in our daily living. The Psalmist recognises that during the good times he became complacent and forgetful of God. It was only when he became ill and was near to death that he remembered how much he owed to God, who is the source of life, health and all good gifts.

            ‘O Lord, by your grace you gave me strength and stability;

             but then you hid your face and I was dismayed.

             To you, O Lord, I called and pleaded for mercy.’

I heard a lady on the radio recently, who spoke of the great tragedies that had overtaken her life, tragedies that seemed beyond bearing. She spoke with intense grief and pain but explained how she used every small blessing and relief from her trials as an opportunity to give thanks and find the peace to nourish her soul. Through this determined but gentle cultivation of her spirit she was able to survive events that would have destroyed most people and give support to those who depended upon her.

 It is all too easy in times of goodness and plenty to forget just how fragile we are and how dependent upon God, our Creator. The Psalmist reminds us that we forget God at the peril of being woefully unprepared for the tragedies that life can bring. Christians are not exempt from tragedy, pain, and grief, but close proximity to God can alleviate the effects of such evils. So I was glad to be reminded in various ways of just how vital is our acknowledgement, praise, and worship, of God to our health, peace of mind, and wholeness.

 May you know the presence of God and rejoice in the peace that this brings,

Tony.