Sharing stories of faith for Lent is the latest initiative from the Bishop of Wakefield as part of growing a new Community of All Saints.
Bishop Tony launched the Community of All Saints in Wakefield Cathedral on All Saints Day last year when he asked people to join him by adopting a Rule of Life to Pray, Grow, Act as part of a deepening and exploration of faith and discipleship.
Almost 200 people joined on that first night and at the beginning of Lent, three months on, Bishop Tony wrote to everyone to explain how Pray Grow Act is impacting on his life and asked them to share their stories of faith for Lent.
Sharing stories of faith for Lent are being uploaded to the news section of the new website for the Community of All Saints at allsaintscommunity.org.uk
Bishop Tony wrote: “For me, spending more quality time in PRAYER in a busy life has been a challenge … I set aside some time everyday. Not the same time, but some time. Sometimes it’s in a quiet place like the cathedral or a chapel or church, other times it’s on the train to London, or in my car when I am busy traveling round.
“GROW for me means constantly looking for new opportunities to learn and develop my faith and …ACT for me is more about listening.
“But the biggest change in my life over the last three months is caring for my mother who is now 92 and who needs more attention and more time than ever before after two stays in hospital over the last year.
“I won’t pretend this is easy for me, but I have come to the realisation that this is my commitment to her. This is my act of faith,’ he wrote.
Read stories of faith from the Wakefield Area like Judith, left, from West Bretton church: My faith means everything to me – I cannot imagine a life without it. If I had no faith how could I cope with losing loved ones and not having the belief that one day we would be together again?
My faith is very simple – God is a best friend who I chat to all day – thanking him for little and big things throughout my day, saying sorry when I get things wrong, asking him to bless my family and friends and care for them, and asking for his help when I have problems. I speak to him about local and world problems and ask for his guidance. Every now and again I have a joke with him too – especially if I mess up!
My daily life brings me into contact with a lot of people – children in the school where I work, together with their families and the staff of the school. My faith gives me the guidance on how to deal with issues with sense, humour and understanding and put them into perspective.Over the years my faith has grown gradually without me really noticing, but now I find I have compassion is areas where before I had not and I try hard to be less judgemental of others. I still get impatient at times – that`s a work in progress between me and God!
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to think about what my faith means and for reading this piece. God bless you.
If you want to share your story of faith and how it impacts on your life, email bishop.tony@leeds.anglican.org
You can read the Sharing stories for Lent here: http://allsaintscommunity.org.uk/grow/share-your-stories-for-lent-2