Talk to many people about Lent and the thing that they will focus on is ‘giving something up’ for it - be that chocolates, alcohol or whatever. Others will speak about adding things to their lives - or dropping things from them - in order to make more time for reading, or praying, or reflection, or study groups, or services.
All these spiritual disciplines have their place and are tried and tested ways of getting the best out of this season in the Church’s year. Certainly it is not the place of a bishop to discourage people from doing them. Yet there is always the danger that we end up replacing one form of activity with another and Lent becomes just another busy time of the year.
 

It was in that context that I decided to make some space this Lent just to ‘be’ in the deaneries. In addition to the two Lent courses that I will be leading in Henley and Woodstock I will be in each of the other five Deaneries of the Dorchester Area, simply being and praying for the inside of a day.
The danger, of course, is that it becomes just another thing that clergy and laity feel that they ‘ought to turn up at’ - and that would, in all likelihood, be counter-productive.
My hope is that people will feel able to use these (or not) as they want. Some will choose not to come, others will be there for part of the day, and yet others for the whole time from 10.00am until 3.00pm. And for all those who are there, my hope is that it will be a time ‘to be’. To be in silence with God - as Jesus was in the wilderness.
And what do I think I will gain from it? The answer is that I don’t know - though I do know that God’s still small voice often needs silence in order to be heard and I’m looking forward to whatever are the surprises the He has in store, not just for me but for all of us, by being in Lent.
The Rt Revd Colin Fletcher is Bishop of Dorchester.