Today is the first day of Lent, a period of reflection and assessment that lasts until Easter – six weeks of it in all. As you would expect from church mice, this will also involve giving up one or two things in order to be reminded of the purpose of this important point in the church calendar.
For us this year, the reflection will also be tinged with more than just a little bit of excitement. One of John’s roles is as co-chair of the Mission Theology Advisory Group, which is a joint enterprise between the Church of England and the Global Mission Network of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. You might imagine that a group with such a high-sounding title would not exactly be engaging the popular imagination. In which case, you would be completely wrong. Last year the group produced this resource, Sense making Faith, which explores Christian faith through the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste – with the addition of a sixth one, imagination. Many of you have already visited the website of the book. But there’s more, because six senses and six weeks of Lent have made it a perfect fit for a BBC series that will accompany listeners to both national and local radio through this traditional Christian festival. How cool is that? The six major programmes run on national radio every Sunday in Lent, with additional themes each day also on national radio as well as input from local radio stations around the country. And a fantastic website with additional materials and reflections, plus a dedicated blog to which one of the church mice will be making a contribution. Go here for the full details and also to explore the resources provided for each week. And no matter where you are in the world, you will be able to hear the programmes via the website: just click on the links there and that will take you to the BBC website to hear the programmes.
