Are you ready to LiveLent?

Lent is the period of 40 days which comes before Easter in the Christian calendar. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Lent is a season of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. By observing the 40 days of Lent, Christians replicate Jesus Christ's sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days.

Whereas Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus after his death on the cross, Lent recalls the events leading up to and including Jesus' crucifixion. It is a time of prayer and penance and this year churches and groups across our Diocese will be focusing in on the urgent need for humans to value and protect the abundance God has created.

We will be doing this through '#Live Lent: Care for God's Creation', which is the Church of England's Lent Campaign for 2020. It has been inspired and informed by the Archbishop of Canterbury's 2020 Lent Book 'Saying Yes to Life', by Ruth Valerio (SPCK).

Bishop Nicholas has already arranged for Sarum College Bookshop to send Diocesan clergy a free copy of the book and the supporting materials that go with it for use by adults and young people, and he said he hoped they would use them in their parishes in much the same way they had used Praying Together.

More copies can be bought from Sarum College Bookshop, via websites such as Eden or SPCK, or your local Christian bookshop.

#Live Lent: Care for God's Creation aims to broaden your view of Christ's redeeming mission - a mission Christians are called to share.

With weekly themes and prayers shaped around the first Genesis account of creation, it explores the urgent need for humans to value and protect the abundance God has created.

Participants are also invited to use specially created 'LiveLent' booklets.

The Adults' Edition offers a daily Bible reading, a short reflection and an action to help you live in greater harmony with God, neighbour and nature. There is also a Kids' Edition, which provides a daily challenge to honour and treasure the earth, weekly short prayers and Bible readings on creation themes.

Both are available from Church House Publishing.

The Adults' booklets cost £1.99 each, with the Kids' edition costing £1.50 each.

Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of Lent in the Christian calendar, has been observed by Britons for centuries. Its exact date changes every year, because it is determined by the dates of Easter. But it is always the day after Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, and it always falls in February or March. This year, it takes place on February 26th.