The Diocese is delighted to announce the publication of its 2025 Lent Course, “Christ has no body now but yours”.
…however far God is beyond us and above us, our only means of knowing God is always mediated through our physical senses and lived experience.
This year’s course invites reflection on two key prayers of the Christian tradition – “Christ has no body but yours”, attributed to Teresa of Avila, and “God be in my head” from the Sarum Primer. These two prayers build on the central Christian theme of the Church as the Body of Christ. Different parts of the human body are used to explore the characteristics of God and the invitation to follow and work with God each day, both individually and as the gathered ‘Body of Christ’.
In his invitation to the Diocese, Bishop John writes, “Here is a saint [Teresa of Avila] who understood very well the transcendence of God, telling us that Incarnation matters. That God’s grace, embodied in the physical person of Jesus, is incarnate still in the physical persons who make up the Church, the Body of Christ. … Thank you, Liz, Sophia and David, for this latest study course. Whether it is used during Lent or at some other time, I pray that it will help us to deepen our sense of how we, in our bodily fullness, may know God’s blessing and share that blessing with others.”

This is the fourth Lent course written by a small group of Diocesan clergy and offered for the whole Diocese to share over the period of Lent. There is plenty of material to chose from, allowing different groups to tailor their engagement accordingly. As well as having five themes, covering the first five weeks of Lent, there are also some additional materials to take participants through Holy Week. Overall, this smorgasbord of theological and prayerful offerings is flexible enough to suit any group.
The course is available via our website here. A Word version is available on request, as are printed copies: contact the Advisor for Christian Life for either.