The beginning

It all started in the 90s. Before kids. Before blogs. Before instagram. Before the iphone. host community, based at the Round Chapel, decided Lent was too good a season to be left to the Catholics. We did all sorts. Gave out money to people to put into schemes to make new money to give away. Challenged people to take a photo a day. Made 'Lent calendars' like advent ones, only drawing a picture each day instead. Worked our way through worthy books. I loved it. A corporate, yet personal, journey of art and faith through the dark days of winter, heading inexorably to the bright greens and yellows of spring and Easter.

Fast forward several years and several kids and church, for me, had become and chore and a bit too predictable. I needed a spiritual discipline for Lent which didn't require me to give anything up, and echoed the fun AdventAdventure we had begun in our neighbourhood.

A friend and I started trying to take pictures and reflecting together but life got in the way and only I persevered. It was low key and low tech. But off my nokia phone came the photos for a blog, with random musings on the season and my attempts to make sense of life and faith in the city. The following year I came across You Are Beautiful and stickered that message in 40 places, one for each day of Lent. A tradition, of sorts, was born and some of the rest of the story is recorded here.