My Dear Friends,

Greeting as we begin my favourite season of Lent.

I hope together we can walk a path to discover an inner peace which will have a significant effect on the whole of or lives.

May I begin with three rather obvious observations.

The first is that to develop our spirituality in order that we may find a sense of peace is not a quick, or indeed simple process, but rather an exercise that will take a good deal of time and will include letting go of some of our preconceived ideas about the way we think.

It is not an accident that I am starting this series at the beginning of Lent, nor was it an accident that after his Baptism Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days, during which he was tempted, but he also thought long and hard about how we was going to share his message. Very simply he let go of any sense of ego, and decided the best way to share the Good News was by telling stories, and allowing people to reflect on them in their own way.

My second observation is that we regularly hear messages of Peace in church, so much so that sometimes we miss the beauty of what they mean.
How many times have you received this Blessing:

The peace of God, 
which passes all understanding, 
keep your hearts and minds 
in the knowledge and love of God, 
and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; 
and the blessing of God almighty, 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 
be among you and remain with you always.

All ​Amen.

Most weeks we receive this Blessing, and yet we find it hard to accept the gift of peace for our hearts and minds. Could it be that it has become so familiar that we take no notice of what is happening. The Priest is giving us a Blessing, and that means something happens.
As with all gifts, it has to be both given and received, and we are not very good at receiving things that we sometimes feel are beyond us.
Maybe it is because we spend too much time thinking the way the world thinks, and not the way God thinks that we can’t find a way to let the Peace of God which passes all understanding into our hearts and minds

My third observation is that there is so much going on in the world and in our own lives right now, to the extent that our own personal peace is pretty far down our agenda, and we have much bigger worries to deal with. Anxiety to do with health, physical, spiritual and mental – concerns for the wellbeing of family and friends, that fact that things are just not normal, and a constant bombardment of worrying news is bound to move our thinking away from seeking our own peace, and towards praying for the world and all its issues. 
Surely we have better things to do that to try and embrace some Hippy mind games.

But in reality, God wants to share his peace and his joy with us, and if we can work on getting that right, then other things may fall into place.

Jn 14. 27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Colossians 3. 15
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
Poverbs 14.30
A heart at peace gives life to the body

Jn 10.10
I have come that you may have life, and have it in all its fullness

Jn 15.11
I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

So, during this Lenten series of letters I invite you to walk slowly with me along a path that leads to inner peace. Let me reiterate, this is not about some quick fix that makes everything lovely, nor is it just about pretending we are fine when we are not. Rather it is about allowing our faith to guide us and being open to the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps our Lenten staring point is for us to be honest about whether or not we want to find an inner peace. We do have a choice.

Jn 5.6
⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

Mtt 20.32
Jesus stood still and called them, saying, “What do you want me to do for you?”

A very real question because healing had consequences. Life would change, and work would need to be done.
So it is with our state of being. We may well be happy with the thoughts we have about ourselves and others. We may like to pretend all is well when in fact what we do is promote a sense of spiritual superiority or even judgment on others because we ‘know they are mistaken’.

Maybe we hurt so bad that we cannot see beyond that, or we think that even God cannot change the way we or others are!

Some folk are not yet ready to forgive. Some are not ready to change. Some can’t see the possibility or the need for things to be different.
Some consciously need to leave it up to God at the moment.
But others are ripe for growth.

Let me tell you a quick story.
In a previous parish there were a brother and sister who had fallen out big time. They could not get on, and whenever they were together there was palpable tension which had an effect on whatever situation they found themselves in. When they were in the same room, nothing was fine.

Their parents were about to celebrate a Golden Wedding anniversary, and the daughter was very conscious of their tension, and not wanting to spoil the day. She asked for my advice, and I suggested she go and see him, and ask that they may put their differences behind them for the sake of their parents, and for the goodwill of all who would be at the party.
She wasn’t keen to go, but I encouraged her, so she went.

It backfired spectacularly, he was furious with her, thought she was interfering and the whole thing escalated!

My fault, and I still feel bad. He in particular was not ready to either forgive, or to be at peace, and no amount of ‘Common sense’ was going to make things OK.

So, our first lesson is that we, or others may not be in a place wqhere we can accept the Peace of God which passes all understanding. But if we are, then this series of letters will open a path for us. If we are not, then perhaps it will enable us to take one or two steps in the direction of allowing our faith to flourish a little bit more.

Finally just so you know what to expect, we shall be looking at
Taking a step towards opening our mind to the possibility of peace
Understanding a series of expectations
Taking responsibility for our own feelings
Letting go of the things and feelings that we don’t need
Unpacking the Christian view of Inner peace and reconciliation
Understanding that the Peace of God is both a Blessing and a gift.

As ever,

Fr Marcus