Just when I start to think I’ve seen at least one of everything I’m likely to see in parish ministry, along comes an invitation to join Barrie the Mayor as he, with the Colonel of the Regiment, reviewed a parade of the King’s Royal Hussars, before they marched through Leyland to exercise their freedom of the Borough. You know my interests in military history. We went.  

Margaret and I ended up at lunch sat between two officers (like policemen, they seemed far too young), a new lieutenant and a captain who’d done one tour of Afghanistan. The lieutenant had a theology degree, and I can recognise one end of a tank from the other, so we had plenty to talk about. (Is it wrong to feel a twinge of envy towards a young man who commands a troop of four 70 ton Challenger II tanks with 120mm guns?)

I doubt civilians will ever truly appreciate what combat is actually like, and the veterans in our congregation don’t talk about it. There will always be a gulf of experience between those who’ve put their lives on the line and the people on whose behalf they did so. There must a lot of serious thinking going on just before a deployment to an “active situation”.  

But now we’ve been plunged into a situation that involves us all – the credit crunch and recession. I hope they make us stop and think. Given that we all have time, talents, energy and resources – is this not a good time to stop and ask if we’re using them to best effect? And how would we know? The reining in of spending before Christmas did tend to suggest we as a nation were redefining what we actually need and what our lives needed to be about. 

In January we celebrate Epiphany, and a group of wise men who counted the cost and thought it was worth the effort of seeking out the new King of the Jews. 

In Lent, we remember that Jesus spent 40 days before beginning his public ministry getting it clear in his head what sort of Messiah God had sent him to be. There were all sorts of sidetracks and dead ends that needed to be anticipated so that he could stay focussed on achieving the purpose his father had for him. That way, when the temptations came, he’d already faced and rejected them. He would not waste time trying to be popular. Or meet everybody’s needs. Or seek conventional power and authority. He was going to be the suffering servant that Isaiah had foretold. The teaching and the miracles were all leading up to that. We all have a chance to refocus our lives over the coming months. I commend our Lent “Purpose Driven Life” campaign to you, and I hope you’ll be fully involved.

Simon