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A thought for Lent
Searching For Truth

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On Saturday 14 February Donalda and I attended the Methodist
Circuit’s Gathering for Lent held at Swanage Methodist Church.
The day was entitled

Searching for Truth: Exploring the Influence
of the Crowd in Holy Week.

It was led by Southampton District Chair, Rachel Bending, and it
transpired to be a very moving, peaceful and thought provoking
introduction to Lent. We journeyed through the events leading up to
Holy Week through the Gospel of Matthew and then explored his
account of Holy Week itself. There were stations around the church
relating to Christ’s journey throughout his life which we could visit
and engage with. It would be impossible to relate all the aspects of
that day here, but during Rachel’s time of worship in the afternoon
there was a poignant moment for me considering our current
engagement with Church Growth.
Rachel spoke about the crowds on Palm Sunday: Jesus’ triumphal
entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21) and likened it to any demonstra-
tion of solidarity today that can be found in cities and towns across
the world: the word ‘Hosanna’ ‘save us and rescue us we pray’ has
resonance for today’s unsettled situation, as it was then. She then
spoke about Minneapolis and the peaceful demonstrations follow-
ing the ICE intervention and four days after the killing of Renee
Macklin Good, ‘Singing Resistance’ began. A solitary woman

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