AN INVITATION:

The Bible is a map of Grace which gives access to a network of roads leading us to God. It has its splendid Motorways - the 'fast-track' highways along which we speed to precious truths (Psalms, the Gospels and the great Epistles spring to mind). It also has its 'A Roads' - those well-tried major routes leading to precious guidance and inspiration.

But what about it's 'B Roads' - those by-ways not so often explored? Indeed, some roads are so rarely travelled that grass grows unmolested on their tarmac. Announce a reading from one of these books in Sunday worship and even seasoned worshippers surreptitiously have to consult their Bible's Index.

Yet these books are part of God's Word. God has put them on the map for a purpose and I ought not to ignore them. Wondering how God might use them to speak to me, I have decided to wander through them for my Lenten devotions. Whatever I discover, I will write down, so that again, as last year for some of you, you can look over my shoulder and read my mind.

Some of the paths may be so neglected that I will need to remind myself why they are there and where they lead. However, this is not a scholarly commentary. I think of it more as a sort of Wainwright's Walks which, instead of taking me through Lakeland glories, records my pilgrimage along the Bible's by-ways. Most of my chosen 'B Road' books are short and may easily be read in their entirety, but, from them, I will select verses that have made me pause and think more carefully.
For me, and I trust for many of you, It will be like taking a country walk when some striking view stops me in my tracks and compels me to look and learn a little more.

Please use my thoughts as your starting-point but do not stop there. I am a very imperfect Christian and your spiritual eyes may well be sharper than mine. Using your spiritual varifocals, you will see flowers in the hedgerows that I have missed and discern distant vistas hidden by my spiritual myopia. That is the way God's Word works. It alerts our spiritual senses so that we receive personal revelations. Why not carry a note-book with you and jot down your private thoughts and visions as you walk?

So I invite you to put on your walking-boots. Let us set out together on a pilgrimage into Lent and see where God will lead us.

David Dunn-Wilson
November 2016