Lent 2025 Introduction

What is a life composed of?  What elements have marked us, and the moments that have most shaped us? Is it the epic events, the small acts of kindness, the unforeseen criticisms, the sideways interruptions?

Padraig O Tuama in his introduction to his book 44 Poems on being with each other reels off in the past year the stages he has been part of, the scenes he has beheld. “ I have seen life and death.  I ‘ve seen hope and horror.  I have seen grief, gladness, good food and greed. I’ve read articles, novels, headlines, text messages, letters, food labels, whisky descriptions, departures information and station signs…From the memorable to the mundane, moments appear that ask for our attention.”

The poet Richard Langston, in ‘Hillwalk’ begins with the lines: “We often wonder/what moves us in a day”

WHAT ARE WE MOVED BY?

Starting with a selection of scenes in Jesus’s life we try to reflect on what moved Jesus in a day, in a scene.  He met new people, gathered disciples, fed curious people, alarmed and reassured people, wrote in dust when confronted with an accusation, wept at the death of a friend.  What did he respond to?  How did he react?  What did he try to upturn or challenge?  In other words What moved him?

We then ask about liminal moments in our own lives.  What has caught my attention and moved me?  Can I attend to this even now, give it space and honour, that something of Christ may grow in me?

Weekly reflections, from various writers, will start on Wednesday 5th March.