Grace-filled wilderness: a six-week course for lent - Magdalen Smith

The Grace-filled Wilderness connects contemporary encounters of wilderness with the traditional themes of Lent and Jesus' journey to the cross.

It concentrates on `double-edged' subjects, which bring us life as well as potentially drain life from us when we fall into them in the wrong way.

How we deal with our appetites; what gives us identity; how to live with the freedom and power we hold; ways to overcome the underlying anxiety which is wrapped around so much of contemporary life and faith - all of these are explored.

Each week progresses from `wilderness to grace', as the reader moves through Lent and Holy Week into the glorious hope of Easter.

Week I APPETITE: Fast, Hunger, Excess, Feast, Bread for the Word, Prayer & Action.

Week 2 IDENTITY: Loneliness, Isolation, Solitude, Friendship, Community, Prayer & Action.

Week 3 POWER: Ambition, Position, Vocation, Contribution, Service, Prayer & Action.

Week 4 FREEDOM: Choice, Freedom, Boundary, Humility, Authenticity, Prayer & Action.

Week 5 ANXIETY: Lifestyle, Money, Pressure, Failure, Trust, Prayer & Action.

Week 6 DARKNESS: Weakness, Dislocation, Desolation, Death, Waiting, Prayer & Action.