Message from Bishop Robert, 16 January 2024

I love maps. On a day-to-day basis, GPS is great for getting me from point A to point B in the shortest time, but I love maps, especially if I am going somewhere new. With a map, I have to think about the journey – where I am beginning, how I want to travel, what I might see and learn along the way, as well as where I hope to arrive.

As I think about the journey, I need also to plan. Some of this is practical. Having an electric car, I need to think where I might need to stop and charge the battery, and what I might do while I wait. If I am going up a mountain, not that it happens often, do I have snow chains or socks? If it’s going to be a long journey, do I have some snacks to keep me going (very important!)? Other parts of my preparation are more about what I might see on the way, who I might meet, not to mention who I might travel with.

Jesus’ ministry, of course, is marked by a number of journeys. As an infant from Bethlehem to the temple and to exile; as a child back to Nazareth and then the temple; in his ministry around the Galilee and beyond; eventually to Jerusalem and around the city to the High Priest, Pilate, Herod; to the cross; and to the empty tomb of the resurrection. We are invited to join in this journey. We have already begun keeping Advent and Christmas in the Epiphany but now our eyes turn with Jesus to Jerusalem and the journey we will keep in Lent. It begins in just under a month with Ash Wednesday on 14 February, as we walk the way of the cross with its destination of resurrection life.

Like all journeys, to do it well we need to prepare, to find our place on the map, to know how we are beginning and what we need to do along the way. To do it well asks of us some honesty about the state of our lives, our life of prayer, our care for the planet and its people, not least those on the margins of society. That will help us reflect on the markers we should look for on the way, to study the route, and know what we might take up and give up. We look for the things that will give us the courage to make the journey with Jesus, to stay the course, arrive at our destination and find life renewed in the resurrection dawn.

The good news is that we are not quite yet at the start of the journey. There are still four weeks for preparation before we set off, and that gives us the time we need to think and plan for how we will live it. Even better, we are not without help in making those plans. Do look out for what is being organised locally in your parish, community or deanery, a study group, an opportunity for corporate prayer, to go alongside whatever personal discipline is right for you – perhaps a daily time of prayer and reflection, or abstaining from some food or activity. You might join in a national campaign, for example with Christian Aid who are focusing on climate justice, details here.

Whatever is right for you, it’s good to start to think now, so when it comes, we begin Lent well and keep the journey – finding life not just for ourselves, but for our world and its people, a life renewed.