chris@mcdonnell83.freeserve.co.uk              Previous articles by Chris                          February 13, 2013                       Chris McDonnell, UK     And so Lent begins

February 13th and the beginning of Lent, 46 days before we celebrate the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord. In the early church it was a period of preparation for reception into the Christian Community. Now it is observed as a penitential period that leads us to the Easter Triduum and the centrality of our faith, the Risen Christ.  

Our faith is both individual and collective.  

Each person has a responsibility to seek the Lord in the light of their life experience, honestly and sincerely searching for the truth. Collectively we help and assist each other day by day in our pilgrimage, one step at a time.  

The times we live in are indeed troubled times, the challenges to faith are many and varied. Those challenges come from within the church and beyond. We are where we are, we cannot turn back to some glorious time when everything was fine and there were no problems. First of all, such a time never existed and even if in some form it did exist, the milieu then would be very different to what it is now.

We face a centralised governance of the Church where local experience and need seem to count for little. Conformity to the norm is the measure by which we are judged. When others who share our trust in the Lord are judged without fair hearing, when they only seek the good of the Church that has been and is their home, and are censured for it, we mustn’t turn away from the challenge to support them in whatever way we can.  

Maybe we should all enter this period of Lent anxious to learn where the Spirit is leading us and help each other on the way.

“He aint heavy, he’s my brother” *    

*"He Ain't Heavy... He's My Brother" is a popular music ballad written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell. Originally recorded by Kelly Gordon in 1969, the song became a worldwide hit for The Hollies later that year and again for Neil Diamond in 1970. Most recently, the song was re-recorded in 2012 by the Justice Collective to commemorate the Hillsborough disaster. You can listen to it on You Tube.  

The road is long
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where
Who knows when
But I'm strong
Strong enough to carry him
He ain't heavy, he's my brother

So on we go
His welfare is of my concern
No burden is he to bear
We'll get there
For I know
He would not encumber me
He ain't heavy, he's my brother

If I'm laden at all
I'm laden with sadness
That everyone's heart
Isn't filled with the gladness
Of love for one another

It's a long, long road
From which there is no return
While we're on the way to there
Why not share
And the load
Doesn't weigh me down at all
He ain't heavy, he's my brother

He's my brother
He ain't heavy, he's my brother...