ÿþ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive"> <title>Letter from the Vicar</title> <link href="saintjohns1.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all"> <style type="text/css" media="screen"><!-- body {text-align: center; } #wrapper {position: relative; width: 900px; margin: 0 auto; text-align: left; } #InternalWrapper { visibility: visible; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 900px; height: 1000px } #BgdPic { visibility: visible; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 10px; width: 890px; height: 372px } #Navigation { visibility: visible; position: absolute; top: 19px; left: 65px; width: 780px; height: 34px } #BlueArea { background-color: #73939f; visibility: visible; position: absolute; top: 389px; left: 65px; width: 780px; height: auto } #HeadlineStrip { background-image: url("graphics/home/headline-strip-1.gif"); visibility: visible; position: absolute; top: 340px; left: 65px; width: 780px; height: 49px } a { color: #020000; text-decoration: none } a:hover { color: #b1bbc7 } #Headline { visibility: visible; position: absolute; top: 354px; left: 65px; width: 780px; height: 35px } #logo { visibility: visible; position: absolute; top: 75px; left: 575px; width: 250px; height: 180px } --></style> </head> <body bgcolor="#81643c" leftmargin="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" topmargin="0"> <div id="wrapper"> <div id="InternalWrapper"> <div id="BgdPic"> <img src="graphics/home/bgd-pic-1-a.gif" alt="" height="372" width="233" border="0"><img src="graphics/home/bgd-pic-1-b.gif" alt="" height="372" width="272" border="0"><img src="graphics/home/bgd-pic-1-c.gif" alt="" height="372" width="238" border="0"><img src="graphics/home/bgd-pic-1-d.gif" alt="" height="372" width="147" border="0"></div> <div id="Navigation" class="text15rl"> <font color="#b1bbc7"><a href="index.html">Home</a> / <a href="calendar.html">Calendar</a> / <a href="activities.html">Activities</a> / <a href="contacts.html">Contacts</a> / <a href="blog.html">Blog</a> / <a href="sermon.html">Sermons</a> / <a href="what_if.html">What if? </a> / <a href="http://www.conference-facilities.org.uk/" target="_blank">Church Centre</a></font></div> <div id="BlueArea"> <table class="text11rl" width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="10" cellpadding="5" align="center"> <tr> <td class="text11rl" colspan="2" align="left" valign="top" bgcolor="#d8bfa6"> <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="10" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top" width="730"><font color="#81643c"><span class="text18rl">Parish Thoughts February 2012</span></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="text11rl" align="left" valign="top" width="360"><font color="#5a4532"> It hardly seems a moment since Christmas and yet here I am writing about Lent and Easter! We'll put Easter itself to one side for the moment but only so that we can focus on Lent which begins on February 22nd with Ash Wednesday, but of course we cannot separate Easter and Lent in reality.<br /> <br />Lent, which denotes the forty days before Easter, is a Teutonic word meaning no more than the 'spring season'. Of course Lent is far easier to say than the original Latin term for this period: 'quadragesima' meaning the fortieth day. If you want to know more details then a good place to look is: <a href="http://www.newadvent.org">www.newadvent.org</a>. Interestingly this period was not always associated with Christ's forty days in the desert. It actually started out as a fast in remembrance of Christ's sacrifice on the Cross.<br /> <br />At one extreme Lent could mean only one meal a day taken after dark or it could be a true dry fast but only from Maundy Thursday Evening until Easter Dawn. I am recommending none of these things but simply think about moderating your food intake in some way that can heighten your faith awareness of the time leading up to Christ's Death and Resurrection and what that might mean to you. </font></td> <td class="text11rl" align="left" valign="top" width="360"><font color="#5a4532">So from time to time be silent, meditate, pray and wonder about the enormity of Christ's Sacrifice.<br /> <br />Strengthen your faith by attending a Home or Growth Group or my series of Lent Talks based on 'The Things He Carried'. Times and dates will be published. See if you can join others at the Lent Lunches which will be on Saturdays during Lent and I hope will hosted in different homes; this information will also be published. Lent lunches are a time to draw together with a simple meal for encouragement and to think of others as we share. Then use Holy Week, (Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday) to draw close to Christ's Passion by coming along to each evening s meditation or event in Church.<br /> <br />So use Lent to reflect on Christ s Passion and to re-centre Him in your life. Use the time to refresh your life in Christ and so to seek spiritual refreshment. Spiritual refreshment will I pray, continue after Easter as we begin to ask and discern what Christ intends for us at St John's.<br /> <br />With every blessing<br /> <br /><b>Trevor</b></font></td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div id="HeadlineStrip"></div> <div id="Headline" class="text18rl"> <div align="center"> <font color="#aa9177">Trevor writes:</font></div> </div> <div id="logo"> <img src="graphics/home/logo-panel.png" alt="" height="137" width="250" border="0"></div> </div> </div> </div> </body> </html>