The last year of lockdown and pandemic has been a test for most of us. Things that we had just taken for granted, like seeing family or friends at will, have become difficult or impossible; while the virus itself has had consequences serious for life and health.  It has been a very restrictive period.

A couple of weeks ago, like many of you, we had our coronavirus jab, and this little act confirmed for me that we are poised to come out of the period of restriction – a sort of light at the end of the tunnel.

I suspect that, in our quieter moments, we may be asking what the last year has meant – for us personally, for our communities, and more widely on the national stage. Can we make sense of things? What new responses will the last year have encouraged in us? How will we handle the time after lockdown?

For Christians, the season of Lent has begun. We may feel that the whole of the last year had something of the Lenten about it, with its restraints and challenges, its hint of the wilderness. But we will try to hold on, not glibly or without reflection, to the promise that Easter brings – of new life and new possibility. We shall celebrate Easter at services at All Saints and at St. Martin’s – and what a celebration that will be!

With every blessing

Stephen