The wise men have departed, the shepherds have gone, Simeon and Anna have seen the Messiah, and now it is time to move on. We enter a short season of preparation for our 40-day Lenten pilgrimage. Time is short yet precious. Lent can such a fruitful season of self-reflection and spiritual growth that it is important to get ready for this. The focus this year is on God's generous and gracious love for us and for all peoples and creatures. If we each travel well through life with love in our hearts, our world will be as it should be. It all begins with you and me. If each person across the globe thought about how their actions are guided by love: love for the one who provides for us and love for those around us, this world would be amazing. Truly amazing.
I invite you to ponder this with the help of these timeless words of St. Paul on the nature of love.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believe all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
May you love be a blessing to your community.
God bless,
Revd Katrina