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Foreword

It is important for Christians to make connections between our experience of church worship and our ongoing prayer and spiritual life. Seasons of Grace gives us a good opportunity to do this. Taking us through the cycle of the Church’s year, Ann Lewin offers us both a resource for personal reflection (with encouragement about how we might approach our everyday praying) and an imaginative range of liturgical material that picks up the themes and imagery of each season in turn.

The shape of the Church’s year reminds us of the great drama of our creation and salvation, and every time and season contains an invitation to place our own story, and that of our world, within the unfolding story found in Scripture. Yet we can sometimes be so busy or preoccupied that the richness and flavour of the different parts of the Christian year simply pass us by, and we miss the spiritual treasures within the fabric of each particular season. Ann’s book may help us to recover some of these things, such as the wonderful sense of anticipation in Advent, the beauty and mystery of Epiphany, the prayerful possibilities of Good Friday, and the significance of lesser known festivals such as Lammastide.

In her introduction Ann says that she hopes her material ‘will spark off creativity in people looking for fresh ways to present truths about God and ourselves’. I can envisage several ways in which this could happen. Some readers who feel that their prayer life is in a rut may find that this book opens up new ways of relating to God through the year. The practical suggestions on pages 18–19 would be a good place to start for those who are not sure where to go next in their prayer life. In addition, I am sure that people responsible for leading worship, or events such as Quiet Days, will welcome the liturgical material and suggestions. This book might also inspire a group within a congregation to organize a special event for carers (pp. 199ff), the setting up of a Quiet Garden (pp. 202ff), or a day exploring the teaching of someone like Julian of Norwich (pp. 192ff). Ann’s ideas may also encourage readers to take other creative initiatives of their own, using the sort of outlines and practical suggestions that she gives.

This book is earthed in the realities of daily life, and its journey through the seasons frequently connects us with ordinary experiences. At the same time, there are many glimpses of heaven, for example in the section for Easter Eve:

Lord Christ, set us on fire,

burn from us all that dims your light;

kindle an answering flame in lives around,

that darkness may be driven back,

and glory stream into this world,

transforming it with light. (p. 134)

Ann has the knack of offering us lots of ideas without trying to control or dictate what we do. That is probably because of her own deep understanding of what prayer is about:

Prayer is like watching for the

Kingfisher. All you can do is

Be where he is likely to appear and

Wait. (p. 27)

Prayer and worship are about waiting on God with open and generous hearts, rather than trying to control God or make things happen to suit ourselves. One way in which we can grow in this openness to God is when our corporate worship and our personal prayer flow into each other and nourish each other. By using this book we may find that dream becoming more of a reality.

Angela Ashwin

Writer and lecturer on spirituality