As you probably already know, Easter is rather early this year. Easter is a moveable feast because its date is determined by its association with the Jewish Passover, the date of which is dictated by phases of the moon. Easter, like Christmas, is a central feast of the Christian Year and is preceded by several weeks of preparation: Advent in the case of Christmas and Lent in the case of Easter. This year it seems that Christmas is hardly out of the way and the decorations put back in the loft (or wherever you store them) before Lent is upon us.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday which this year falls on Wednesday 13th February. We will be holding two services that day: a said Communion Service at 10am and a sung Eucharist at 8pm. Both services will include the traditional ceremony of “Ashing” when the celebrant marks us on the forehead with ash and reminds us of our mortality, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.” Thus begins six weeks of preparation for the great festival of Easter. During these weeks the church invites its members to reflect on their lives, strengthening what we do well and amending what we do amiss. To help us do this, here at the Good Shepherd, we will be offering two specific opportunities for folk to get together and encourage one another, one on Wednesday Evenings at 8pm in the Meeting Room, the other at 6.30pm Sundays in Church. At both these sessions we will be using resources drawn from a book by Hilary Brand entitled, “The Power of Small Choices”.
In this book Hilary Brand starts from the presupposition that every day we all make choices which may on the surface may appear to be small and insignificant but actually can have powerful consequences. She utilises two films to illustrate the power of small choices: The Shawshank Redemption and Babette’s Feast. The former is set in the bleak situation of imprisonment the latter in a rather narrow religious community brought alive by a generous newcomer. The settings are very different, one harsh and cruel the other gentle but restricted; what they share in common is the powerful influence that limited choice has on those thus confined. Hilary sets these fictional stories against Biblical passages which address similar themes and she challenges us to look at the choices we make every day in our lives.
The book can be used individually or in a group setting. On Sunday evenings we are going to discuss the individual stories Hilary presents in her book, followed by the office of Compline. On Wednesday evenings we are going to watch clips from the two films and discuss them in the light of the Bible.
So I would like to invite you to participate in our Lent Course this year. Copies of the book (cost £4.95) will be made available. If you would like one please sign the list at the back of church. You do not necessarily have had to have seen the films in their entirety (relevant clips will be shown on the night) nor for that matter buy a copy of the book to join in the group sessions but it would most probably help you to get the most out of the course if you did.
All the best – Fr Mick