​‘Who is my Neighbour?’ is the title of our Lent Course which begins on Wednesday 12th March.

​The title you may recognise is taken from a question that Jesus is asked in the Gospel of Luke, to which Jesus responds with the Parable of the Good Samaritan. As is typical of Jesus’s parables, the message isn’t always what it seems to be. Jesus says our neighbour isn’t necessarily someone next door, or merely nearby, who is just passively sitting there waiting for us to be nice to them.  Rather, being a neighbour is being active and involved in each other’s lives.  And sometimes our neighbour is who we least expect. So, when we begin to examine this idea of ‘Who is my Neighbour’ we realise that it an complex area worth exploring and to look at for a deeper understanding, which will hopefully contribute to our mission at St Mary Abbots.

​The course will be over 5 weeks, and is inspired by the ‘Art and the Bible resource’ from St Martin in the Fields. Each week we will be reflecting on a religious painting taken from the National Gallery, which is centred on that week’s subject and will help us explore, imagine and reflect on the courses theme. After looking at the picture, we will  listen to the related Biblical text and then discuss. There will be opportunity to talk about how this relates to our lives as individual and as a Church. And finally, we will listen to a written reflection which further sheds light on the painting and biblical reading.
 
If you are interested or curious please get in touch with me and I can explain more. It will be very friendly and accessible and you can try one week to see if it’s your thing- it is for all levels of knowledge, and you do not need any prior art or biblical knowledge. With refreshments beforehand it will also be a nice way for us to also get to know each other better.