360 over 40 days for Timor Leste
Sponsor my 360 Kilometer paddle adventure over the 40 days of Lent in 2026 and also receive some of my 360-degree life reflections. All this raises funds for UnitingWorld's work in Timor Leste. Join my facebook fund raising group here https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1AUeieQqVs/
My Updates
Ash Wednesday: Why Lament Still Matters
Reading the news lately, it’s hard not to think that ancient spiritual practices like Lent might be more relevant than ever.
For many, Lent sounds quaint or obscure—perhaps associated with eating fish on Fridays, if it’s recognised at all. And then it begins with Ash Wednesday: ashes smeared on foreheads and an emphasis on lament. Another old word that feels out of place in a culture that makes good money helping us avoid discomfort.
Yet lament may be one of the most important doorways into what Lent offers.
Ash Wednesday invites us to face the temporary nature of our lives and ambitions. As the ancient psalmist wrote, “we are but dust.” We lament not only our mortality, but dreams that have turned to ashes—our own and those of others beyond our immediate view. We lament, for example, the reality that nearly four million children in Sudan are acutely malnourished. We lament the groaning of creation under climate change, warming oceans, and fragile ecosystems.
This is where Lent begins to make sense. A spirituality of lament stands in sharp contrast to the egocentric spiritualities of our time. In a world where authoritarianism and “might is right” thinking are gaining ground, lament refuses denial and self-justification. It invites us to sit honestly with uncomfortable truths about ourselves and our world.
Lament leads to repentance—not as shame, but as a turning away from patterns that harm: violence, greed, exclusion, and environmental destruction. It turns us instead toward love, justice, repair, and community. This is the opposite of pretending that all is well, or that suffering beyond our vision doesn’t matter.
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, lament is grounded in hope: that the Good—the One we call God—is present even in the ashes. In Genesis, life is breathed from dust. In the Christ story, betrayal and death are not the end; resurrection follows. This hope gives us the courage to lament in the first place.
So perhaps Lent is worth re-embracing this year. Even without signing up to a creed, it offers a counter-cultural way to reconnect with our own pain and the pain of the world—and to let that connection shape how we live.
This Lent, UnitingWorld invites you to make that hope practical by reflecting on the lives of one of our nearest neighbours: the people of Timor-Leste.
Begin your reflections here:
Join my Lent adventure!
Okay I realise we're rushing headlong into 'the season to be jolly.' Yet for super prepared higher achievers, are you getting ready for Lent 2026? The 'serious season' will be upon us before you know it, mid-February 2026.
Why not join my “360 for 40” Lent campaign? You’ll get updates on my progress with a 360-kilometer paddle over the 40 days of Lent, while helping raise funds for transformative community work in Timor Leste. Along the way, I’ll share a few 360-degree life reflections shaped by our ancient Lent tradition. There will also be a great video series on our work in Timor Leste. Here's a taster https://vimeo.com/1133251214?fl=pl&fe=sh
Why not donate and keep linked in for updates? Or form your own fundraising team within your circles for the '360 for 40' campaign? Or do you own campaign? Happy to help set you up on any of these ideas.
Sacrificing for Lent, an outmoded idea?
Let’s be honest: many people find it a bit strange to reflect on a story centred on an ancient Jewish prophet whose path led to grizzly torture and crucifixion. And the whole idea of voluntarily giving up things we enjoy—even for a season—can feel, well, odd!
But maybe we could turn the idea on its head.
At its heart, isn’t any true sacrifice motivated by an embrace of the dignity and beauty of all life? Wasn’t that ancient prophet’s passion—his insistence that every person was precious beyond measure—exactly what drove him to challenge the religious, political, and social systems that robbed people of their right to live fully? If so, perhaps Lent is less about grim self-denial and more about recognising the wonder and worth of life.
I think of Maria, a young mum in Timor Leste. Her beauty, strength, and potential were being diminished simply because she lacked access to water and the basic agricultural tools she needed to grow a garden for food. Without resources, her self-agency was limited. But when people looked beyond their own patch—when they gave, noticed, and invested—things changed. Maria received hoses, simple equipment, seeds, training, and ongoing support. And it transformed not only her life, but the lives of her children. She went from being “the poor woman who couldn’t grow a garden to feed her kids” to “the remarkable entrepreneur who now sells surplus food at the market and is growing a small business.”
Now that’s Lent: embracing the inherent goodness of life so deeply that we’re willing to make sacrifices—small or large—not because sacrifice is good in itself, but because it opens the way for others to flourish.
So this coming Lent, I invite you to support my paddle and join a journey of reflection—one that, I hope, leads us all further along the path of love, generosity, and a fair go for all. That’s something any of us can embrace, whether Christian, agnostic, atheist, or of another faith.
