Over the coming weeks we will be featuring a brief column about the Christian season of Lent written by a wide variety of people.

It will include ministers, lay people, young people, the Bishop and even Jack Straw will contribute. There will also be some non Christians who will reflect on the season where the popular conception is that Christians give up chocolate or meat.

Lent is actually the most serious time of year for Christians.

It is believed that the man we believe to be a true manifestation of God on earth, Jesus, spent 40 days in the wilderness praying and feeling a strong sense of compassion towards the whole of creation and all people.

He felt so much compassion and had such a desire to show people the way to salvation and God’s love that at the end of the 40 days when the authorities arrested him, he did not protest because he believed his life would be the ultimate sacrifice.

His life was the model of right behaviour and loving action for us to learn and be inspired by. So, during the next few weeks in anticipation of when the whole of the Christian church will celebrate Easter we can take inspiration from the reflections and thoughts of others.

Feel free to come by the cathedral to ask any questions you may have or offer your own reflections and address them to Canon Shannon at Blackburn Cathedral.

The Rev’d Canon Dr Shannon Ledbetter is Community Canon, Blackburn Cathedral Chaplain, Blackburn College.