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The notes for each of the Sundays in Lent are in three sections:

Notes on the lectionary readings - There is a brief background to each reading. I have had in mind especially lay preachers who may not have access to commentaries on the books of the Bible. Ministerial colleagues: you can no doubt find this information and much more in books on your own shelves.

The Sermon suggestions, giving a sketch of a way or ways you might develop thoughts that come from one or more of the readings for the day. They are intended to be a stimulus to you as you create your own sermon. Preaching is a highly individualistic, even an idiosyncratic art. The ideas and suggestions given may or may not accord well with your own style. In some cases you may react negatively to the suggestions (“I don’t agree with that!”). I hope that even such negative reactions might provoke you into developing your own line of thought.

The Prayers - As in the introduction to earlier sets of these notes, the prayers are intended to relate, though not necessarily directly, to the texts or themes for the day. They come from prayers I have myself used in conducting worship in recent times. Some of them are original, some have been adapted from sources now long forgotten, a few you may recognise as coming, with little alteration, from a prayer anthology well known to you. My hope is that you will not use these prayers exactly as they appear in these pages, but adapt them to your own style, to the events and concerns of the time, and to the needs of your own congregation.

These notes have been written during Advent 2003. An interesting exercise in living at one time in two contrasting seasons of the Christian year. I hope and pray that you will find them of help in preparing to lead other people in worship. Conducting worship is, as I have said previously, a holy, demanding, and privileged task. May God guide you and inspire you in it.

Lawrie Hampton,  Advent 2003