March 2010
Dear Friends,
We would often associate the coming of spring with having a good old-fashioned spring clean within our homes - you may well remember the domestic upheaval as the cupboards were emptied and everything sorted out. It was a golden opportunity for de-cluttering and washing practically anything that moved or had a being. A spring clean can be amazing for revealing just how much has been stored away and we wonder why on earth some things were held on to.
The season of Lent is an opportunity for a bit of de-cluttering and sorting out in relation to our souls. We may in the process bring into the light some things that we recognise are having a not-so-positive influence on our thoughts, actions, inclinations or habits, things that move our focus away from God and mean that we don't put Christ at the centre of our thought and activity. Lent enables an opportunity for a little self-examination in order to see where there is need to turn around, to be honest before God, where we need direction and strength of purpose to remove the selfish passion that hinders our spiritual growth and development.
Lent, and the later part of the season we call Passiontide, prepares us to have the courage to step out of the crowd to carry the Cross of Christ. We are familiar with the call to 'take up the cross', but this has an association with following, rather than carrying the cross as a witness that speaks of hope. Simon of Cyrene emerged from the crowds around Jesus on Good Friday and willingly, or was forced, to help carry the instrument of death and cruelty. The cross of Jesus may symbolise for us times within our lives when we have known (or know) suffering and uncertainty, challenge and turbulence, grief and vulnerability. Simon confronted the full horror of the cross, but in embracing it he, and we, are transformed and renewed. Darkness becomes light, despair becomes hope and death becomes life.
Simon's life was transformed; the cross brought him and his family to faith in a loving, healing, forgiving and living God. The cross of Jesus has the power to do the same for us. Let us remove anything that prevents us from knowing and experiencing this.
With love and prayers,
![[signed] Tony](tonysignature.jpg)
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