Lent message

Lent 2026       

It often feels, nowadays, that the world is changing faster than we can keep up. Some people increasingly care only about themselves and their families. AI is a blessing but also a challenge. Whilst the global situation is no longer as it was with old alliances challenged and tested. 

What once seemed solid now feels uncertain, kindness can be overlooked, and the morals and values that shaped us are often treated as old-fashioned inconveniences. It can leave many feeling unsettled, and more than a little weary.

I was speaking to a young mum recently who was pretty much saying the same thing and was looking to the church and faith to find a refuge and some peace and security in the shifting sands of the world. 

Jesus knew what it was like to live in a troubled world, and His advice remains wonderfully practical: build on the rock. Storms will come, that part is guaranteed, but a life rooted in Him does not fall apart every time the wind blows a gale. While everything else shifts and sways, Christ remains faithful and sure.

The calling of a Christian is not to retreat or to harden our hearts, but to live differently. In a world that often forgets its soul, increasingly without morals or values, choosing kindness and loving service becomes an act of quiet courage. 

Practising forgiveness, speaking truth with grace, listening generously to another point of view, sacrificing time for God and loving when it costs us something are all ways we lay another stone in that firm foundation.

The Church’s greatest witness has never been noise or numbers, but faithfulness. When we live grounded lives — prayerful, generous, hopeful — we offer something rare and deeply needed: steadiness. Sometimes, just a calm presence is a powerful gift.

If you’re looking to do something new for Lent and are fed up of going without chocolate again. Why not try church for 6 weeks from Ash Wednesday 18th February. Go on give it a try. You’ve nothing to lose and much to gain.

May God strengthen you, keep your feet on solid ground as society wavers, and help you reflect His love in a world that needs it more than ever.

With every blessing,

Reverend Gary