A series of podcasts for Severn Church, Bristol made for Lent 2026.

Lent is a traditional church season that leads up to Easter, where we celebrate Jesus’ death and (wait for it…) resurrection, defeating death and opening up new life for us. This is A Big Deal for believers and, believers believe, for everyone!

Part of getting ready to celebrate this is remembering why it’s needed. As told through much of the Bible, things have got in the way between people and God. But what are those things? And what have they got to do with us, who we are and the choices we make today?

As part of telling the story of Jesus, most of the gospel writers (Matthew, Mark and Luke) include a story about something Jesus did after he became recognisable as a divine saviour, but before he started his main ministry. That was to go and spend forty days and nights in the desert, fasting and dealing with… things. What things? The way I read it, the things that get between people and God.

The desert was seen, by Jesus’ first followers, as a stronghold of evil spirits. The difficulty for life to thrive there mirrored the difficulties they found wherever they experienced suffering and opposition to the good life they believed God wanted for them. This opposition could also be personified as Satan, God’s enemy, and he is described in this story as providing trials and temptations for Jesus, getting in the way between him and his God-given purpose.

So I think we can learn a lot from this story about things that get between us and God and the quality of life God wants for us. What’s getting in the way of our hopes? What’s really causing us to suffer? And how can it be overcome with Jesus’ help?

That is what I’m hoping we can explore in this series as we immerse in the story.

We’ve made a bit of an explainer introduction, but I hope that most of it works more as a prompt for listeners’ own thoughts and prayers, reflections and discussions. As always when Owen and I discuss Bible-related things, we bring and share our thoughts and feelings, hoping to inspire listeners to bring and share their own.

You can read more about this and find other Lent and Easter resources on Severn’s site, and listen to the podcasts in any audio app or right here.