This is our story: Journeys of faith

We all have stories to tell: stories about who we are, where we come from and where we hope to go in life. We also tell stories about our ‘journeys of faith'.

Our story and stories form the theme of our Lent Course which has been written by Revd Nicholas Sagovsky, an Anglican priest, who is Whitelands Professorial Fellow at Roehampton University. Until last year, he was Canon Theologian at Westminster Abbey.

Nick writes, ‘I wrote this course because I have learnt so much from the members of a little Bible Study Group I started for people who have sought asylum. They have made - and are making - fantastic journeys of faith.

I believe our churches are full of people with great stories to tell, and that studying Scripture together can help each one of us see our life as a journey of faith. We can learn so much as we hear about other people's journeys of faith - the good bits and the hard bits - and we can see more clearly how we follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before us - right back to Jesus and to the Israelites who endured such hardships in the wilderness to come to their promised land.'

Christians have always told stories: we tell and retell the stories of Jesus and of the early church. These are stories which help us shape our lives, to see ourselves as ‘disciples'. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we talk about all the things that have happened to us. We share stories about our ‘journeys of faith' and we need the help of Scripture to make sense of them. This Lent will also be a time when we think about the story of the Israelites escaping from slavery in Egypt, miraculously crossing the Red Sea, struggling through the wilderness for forty years, and, at last, entering the promised land.

This Lent we are saying ‘This is our story': the story of the Israelites, the story of Jesus, the story we can tell about our own ‘journey of faith'. We each have a story to tell and every story is different.

The Lent Course materials for study will link, for those who would like to listen, with Sunday Worship on BBC Radio 4 (0810-0850) and special items based on the themes of the course will be broadcast on Sunday mornings on BBC local radio. The course can be studied at:

St Peter's Aldborough Hatch (Vicarage – Oaks Lane)

Wednesday mornings from 11.00am  

20 Feb, 27 Feb, 06 Mar, 13 Mar, 20 Mar, 27 Mar

St John's Seven Kings

Wednesday evenings from 8.00pm

20 Feb, 27 Feb, 06 Mar, 13 Mar, 20 Mar, 27 Mar 

Goodmayes Methodist Church

Thursday afternoons from 2.00pm

21 Feb, 28 Feb, 7 Mar, 14 Mar, 21 Mar, 28 Mar

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Bruce Cockburn - Wanna Go Walking.