I have always loved travelling.  When I was a child at primary school, I travelled far and wide on foot and by bicycle.  In summer, I was allowed to roam up to ten miles over the fields, hills and moors of North Yorkshire with friends. 

Each weekday morning I journey with my dog over the fields opposite the High School before going to work.  I have a schedule that means that the time at which I walk is constant and that during December and January the walk is in night darkness.  Now I am celebrating, for the first two weeks of February the walks are no longer in darkness but in increasing light.  I have journeyed from darkness to light.

I love this changing of the seasons.  Each one brings something new and I appreciate each for what it is.  On balance my preference is not towards winter.  It is in general too cold, dark and muddy for me.  However even winter has some wonderful features.  There are exhilarating cold, frosty and sunny days with characteristics not found at other times of year.  The nature of the light as dusk approaches on a sunny winter afternoon is different from that at any other time of year.  I remember playing 5-a-side football with a colleague each week.  When November came many of us would complain about the cold and darkness.  He would say how wonderful it was and how when he had lived for many years in Bangkok, where the seasons are not so marked as here, he had longed for the changing seasons.

Many streams of the church, including the Anglican one, have a church calendar.  It starts in late November/early December with Advent when we start to think about the events that preceded the coming of Jesus the Messiah into the world.  At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus, at Easter we celebrate His death and resurrection and finally at Pentecost in May or June we celebrate God sending the Holy Spirit to empower his people to carry on the mission of Jesus.  Following this calendar is an annual journey of faith.

When this magazine is delivered to you, we will be in the season of Lent.  For some Lent can seem, like winter, a rather dour and austere time.  It is the time when we think about Jesus on his life journey setting himself to walk towards Jerusalem where he knew that death awaited him.  During it we often decide to fast from something, perhaps food or some activity in order to focus more on God. 

Just like a calendar season, each church season has its different features that are special to it and which we can learn to appreciate.  Lent too has its special benefits.  By leaving some everyday things behind for a short time and focussing on God we often find ourselves with hearts that are more easily moved by the suffering of humankind and more willing to give to those in need.  The Bible tells us that Jesus was able to walk to his death because of the joy that was set before Him.  It is the same for Christians that we are able to deny ourselves as we travel through life because there is joy along the way and joy set before us.

Each one of us is making a journey through life.  There is no way to stop the world and get off.  How much we enjoy and appreciate a journey is often determined by with whom we make the journey.  For each Christian Jesus is the most important companion on the journey that takes us from darkness to light.  Through Jesus we find that we have many fellow travellers on this journey of faith.  As fellow travellers, we meet together regularly, not only on Sunday but also in various groups throughout the week, to encourage each other.

If you are searching and looking for meaning to life why not come and meet with us?  

Peter Ashton – Reader in the Six Parishes