Roger Scoones' Monthly Dialogue
Rev Roger Scoones
Rev Roger Scoones is Rector of St Mary's Parish Church, Stockport and is a well known figure in the local community.
February at St
Mary's
(2010)
It’s February, and it’s still snowing in Stockport! Having just about
recovered from what we are now being told was the coldest winter ever;
our wintery weather looks as if it’s going to continue for a little
while longer. The spring bulbs and the garden birds which make my home,
The Rectory, such a very pleasant place to live, in the centre of
Stockport, England, will have to wait a week or two more before the
ground begins to thaw and Spring can begin again.
The Church’s Calendar is a seasonal reminder to us of how the year is
progressing from Advent up to Christmas and on into Epiphany, although
the date of Easter Sunday changes each year, so I believe, on the basis
of the phases of the Moon! It is a predictable date for many years
hence, but in the United Kingdom you will often hear it said “oh Easter
is early this year!” or to the contrary “isn’t Easter late, this year?”
It certainly makes life interesting!
This month of February sees us enter the season of Lent, the traditional
time of reflection and preparation for the great and harrowing events of
Holy Week, culminating in the glorious festival of Easter Sunday, the
day of Resurrection. The ladies of the Church will always be hoping that
daffodils and the spring flowers are plentiful for that weekend! But it
always surprises me just how quickly Easter seems to arrive after
Christmas.
In the meantime, this month, St Mary’s prepares, with our neighbouring
parishes and other denominations of the Christian Church in the Centre
of Stockport, to share our observances and our traditions of Lent with
an evening service each week. These occasions bring Christians together
and help us to know that we have far more in common, than what is often
seen to divide us! In a way, a bit like snow; it covers up the ugliness
of life, the unattractive drabness of our townscape, and gives instead a
rather magical look to the place – for just a while. I’m glad it’s
snowing still in February! And I’m glad it’s Lent!
Rev. Roger Scoones
Rector of St Mary’s
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