Lent is a time to refocus our lives on what is eternally important.

Many early Christians entered the deserts of the Middle East in order to live the lives of God-filled simplicity. They fired the imagination of British and Irish people, who then chose deserts of their own – isolated places in which they could devote themselves to prayer and gain spiritual strength and wisdom.

A desert experience can also take place in a busy town or city, because it is essentially an inner experience of the soul.

Ray Simpson’s Lent group study offers us the opportunity to walk with Christ through his desert – not just the wilderness of Judaea, but also the city of Jerusalem, where he was tried and tested, and outside which he died. By walking with him, we shall confront our own weaknesses and strengths, as well as his.