Ministers message: Church gazette March 2019
Dear Friends,
As March arrives, we enter into the period of the Christian year we call lent, beginning to journey with Jesus and his followers towards Jesus’ coming death and resurrection.
Through its history, lent has had a rich and varied array of meaning to individuals and to the church, including being a time of self-examination, strengthening of faith and deepening of discipleship.
Today, we often talk about giving something up for lent, but in recent years, I have found it much more rewarding to use lent as a time to take something up. So for 2019, I want to encourage you to think about how you might take something up during lent.
Perhaps you’d like to commit to reading scripture and spending time in prayer each day. One way you can do this is through our ‘journeying with Luke in lent’ booklet. With our friends at Felpham Methodist Church, I’ve been putting together a booklet which will encourage us in our daily reading of scripture and prayer, using passages from Luke’s gospel as we journey with Jesus and his followers through lent to Jesus’ triumphal entry, the cross and empty tomb. These will also be available at BRMC if you’re interested.
Another way would be to join a study group. There are a number of lent study groups that Churches Together in Bognor Regis and District are co-ordinating (there’s info about them at the back of church). These can be great opportunities for meeting with and learning from Christians from other churches.
Through lent we are also running ‘Rooting Faith’ a course which Rev Tony and I will be running, exploring key aspects of faith and Methodism, and also explore what it means to be a ‘member’ of the Methodist Church. Whether you’ve been a Methodist all your life, or only recently, do come along and discover more with us. If you’re interested in exploring membership, this is just right for you, do come along on Tuesday afternoons, and/or have a conversation with me. If you’re interested, but daytime isn’t good for you, please let me know, as we may run the course again in evenings if there is demand.
There’s lots more ways you can engage with lent this year. As ever, do feel free to get in touch if you’d like some help in thinking about how you can deepen your discipleship and strengthen your faith.
In Christ, Rev Dan