by Rev’d Philip Peacock
On Saturday March 10th, members from Egremont Methodist Church and another helper embarked upon doing some litter picking along the road from East Road to the skate park, the worst area being under the bridge near the skate park. Litter picking tools, bags and gloves were provided by Copeland Borough Council, who also picked up the twenty-two bags of rubbish that were collected.
Obviously, the primary aim of the exercise was to clear away rubbish that had accumulated and so make the area tackled more pleasing on the eye. However, the activity was also deliberately planned to coincide with Lent, when the days are lengthening, domestic Spring-cleaning is taking place and Christians are preparing themselves for Easter. Part of that Lenten preparation involves Christians thinking about what needs changing within their lives, what rubbish (bad words, thoughts and actions) needs clearing away. Christians can then ask God to help them ‘Spring-clean’ their lives so that they can become less ‘ugly’ and more ‘attractive’ people, more like the people God intends them to be. So you could say that the tidying up of the back road on March 10th was symbolic of what can happen in individual lives during Lent.
