Join us for ‘The Joys of Lent’ – a new podcast series
On March 9th, St. Augustine’s College of Theology is excited to introduce The Joys of Lent, our latest podcast series.
This season, we’re exploring the unexpected joys of Lent—and helping you find them, too. Look out for episode 1: Rejoicing in Mortality, read by The Rt Revd Dr Martin Gainsborough, Bishop of Kingston.
Hear from our principal, Alan Gregory, as he shares more about what’s in store.
“From dust you came, and to dust you will return”
Connecting ‘joy’ with the season of Lent may seem perverse or, at least, ironic. Surely, Lent is penitential, not joyful; it’s the grind and strain, the spiritual rock climb before the glorious news of Easter?
Admittedly, that is how Lent often appears, which is why we give stuff up, tone down liturgical celebration, are encouraged to fast, and kick things off with ashes and ‘from dust you came and to dust you will return’. I’ll grant you that Lenten joy differs from Easter joy, as the joy of striving differs from the joy of reaching our goal.
Nonetheless, joy there is in Lent
We should put that more strongly: we must rejoice in Lent. When we don’t find joy in Lent and, I’ll be honest, I have rarely managed it, Lent becomes a grind or just fades away to nothing. Without joy, Lent just turns moralistic or provides a trudge through mildly irritating renunciations.
“I’ll make myself visit three sick people during Lent.” Poor souls. “I’ll stop buying books for Lent.” Then, on Easter Monday, the Amazon delivery guy better get in shape! Lent must be better and more joyful than that. After all, James, sober little letter though it is, urges us, “When you meet with trials, count it all joy”!
Watch the video
In this video, Principal Alan Gregory explains more about what you can expect from the Lent 2025 podcast.
The episodes
Led by friends and tutors of St Augustine’s, you can look forward to different perspectives and ideas to inspire and deepen your spiritual journey this Lenten season:
Episode 1 – 9th March: Rejoicing in Mortality, with The Rt Revd Dr Martin Gainsborough
Episode 2 – 16th March: The Joy of Forgetting Oneself, with The Revd Dr Alan Gregory
Episode 3 – 23rd March: The Joy of Saying Sorry, with The Revd Canon Rebecca Swyer
Episode 4 – 30th March: Lent and Hopefulness, with Fr Stanley Njoka
Episode 5 – 6th April: Lent and Loving, with The Revd Dr Alan Gregory
Now always available as a podcast
In December 2024, we launched our Advent Audio Retreat as a podcast for the first time—and the response was amazing.
Listeners loved the ease of tuning in on their favourite podcast platform, so we’re making all our audio retreats available as podcasts from now on.
Just search ‘St. Augustine’s College Audio Retreats’ on your podcast app, and start listening!
Other ways to listen to the Lent podcast
You can also listen to the Lent podcast in these ways:
- YouTube – Follow this link to the St. Augustine’s YouTube channel.
- Website – Listen directly using the YouTube player in our weekly news posts.
Subtitles and closed captions are also available on the YouTube videos if you need them.
Listen on your favourite platform
First episode out on Sunday 9th March
Look out for the first episode on Sunday 9th March, then every Sunday until 6th April.
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If you’d like to listen to more audio retreats and podcasts, you can browse our complete collection.
