For whom the Bell tolls

Lent is always a time of repentance and a time of ‘bringing to mind’ – trying to re-member those parts of our lives that are most in need of God’s bountiful forgiveness. Lent is sometimes seen as a bit of a downer, an opportunity to bask in moroseness and general brow beating. Yet I’m not convinced that that is really at the heart of this season. In fact, even when Jesus spent his time in the desert being tempted, as we heard about a few weeks ago, this was a period of growing in faith, a period of growth in self-understanding, that follows that great statement from heaven – ‘this is my son, in whom I am well pleased’. That said, we need to take this intentional growth very seriously indeed.   Our readings today are, if you like, a manual to a good and holy Lent – full of caution yet also full of redemption. God Himself was tempted, and yet didn’t yield – but we know from our own experience that we are not there yet. All of us here have probably done somet...

We fly to thy protection, O Holy Mother of God; do not despise our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin. Amen. The sermons this term have all reflected on moments in the life of Mary, the mother of God, popularly known as the Seven Sorrows. Tonight, we will think about the sixth of those sorrows – where Jesus’ lifeless body was taken down from the cross having been pierced with a spear. It’s easy, perhaps, to recoil from discussion of these more difficult parts of the Bible and the Christian message – it’s all just a little gloomy. If one spends too much time with the contemporary Church of England, incidentally a habit much to be avoided, then what sometimes presents itself is a rather cheery and superficial form of Christianity that struggles rather when dealing with the darker sides of life. There’s a lot of talk of power and might, of baby Jesus or Jesus the conqueror, but rather less that ...