FINDING AVOICE is an original Lent course by Hilary Brand. Taking the film, The King's Speech, as a starting point, the course explores the ways in which fear holds us back and examines how we, like Bertie, can face and overcome our fears and begin to find our authentic voice.

The course is based around five weekly group sessions entitled:

• The stuff of nightmares and the power of friendship 
• Chasing the dream or fulfilling the calling 
• Pressing forward and breaking through 
• Poisonous words and profane responses 
• Faith in our voice
  

Each session includes extracts from the film, group discussion questions, exercises and meditations.

Dates:

Friday 7 March, 7pm in the Church Hall - an (optional) full showing of the film (please note the film is rated a 12 and contains strong language in a speech therapy context and has a running time of 113 minutes)

The course will begin on the following dates in March (choose one to go to) and run for 5 weeks

Sunday 9th 7:30pm at Ken & Sheena’s (6 Westfield Drive)

Thursday 13th 7:30pm in the Howe Room (St Mary’s Church Hall)

Friday 14th 10am at St Luke’s, Willaston.

HILARY BRAND is a freelance writer with a particular gift for creating lively and innovative material which helps Christians engage more deeply with their faith. She is the author of three very popular Lent courses, Christ and the Chocolaterie, The Power of Small Choices and Not a Tame Lion (all DLT), as well as works of fiction for children and young teens and other non-fiction for adults.

Lent begins this year on 5 March with Ash Wednesday (Holy Communion at St Mary’s 10am & 7:30pm) - here are some activities and resources to help you get the most out of Lent. For more info like us at facebook.com/stmaryandstluke or follow us on twitter: @maryandluke 

Listen: to the New Testament in 40 Days with the Bible Society “You’ve Got the Time” - bit.ly/mp3ygtt for more info and downloads - free plans are available in both churches or in the Downloads section below.

Read: This Lent's reading plan walks you through each of the four Gospels during the Lent season. What better way to prepare for Easter than to read the complete story of Jesus' birth, life, death and resurrection? Pick one up at church or download from the Downloads section below.

Lent Reflections: Readings and reflections by Tom Wright (former Bishop of Durham) - this can only be done online or via a Smartphone/Tablet App or by buying the book “Lent for Everyone (Year A)” ISBN: 9780281062218. To access the free online version got to: bit.ly/lfe2014 and follow the instructions. YouVersion is a great free Bible resource and I can highly recommend it with Apps available for all devices including, Windows, Apple, Android and Kindle. Go to Bible.com/app 

Act: the ever popular Christian Aid resource “Count Your Blessings” is a good aid to focus our minds on action during Lent. Downloads available for all ages from the Downloads section below. There will also be some available in both churches.

If only there was a CYB’s App to guide us through Lent this year with daily reflections and prayers. Oh!..what's this? bit.ly/cyb14app 

Discover: Lent Groups: for Adults this year, we will be using the film, the King’s Speech, as a basis for discussion (see over for further details). No need to register this year just turn up. You can still go to a group even if you can’t make the full showing on 7 March.  
The Youth Lent Group (year 10 plus) will follow a similar pattern to last year, it will meet for the first time on Friday 14 March at Catherine’s Home and more details will be given out on Sunday 2 March and will be posted on the group’s Facebook Page.