In the January–April 2021 issue of Guidelines, we published a series of reflections written by editor Helen Paynter titled ‘Letters from lockdown’ – a two-week series that Helen had hoped were written at the peak of the pandemic. At the time of writing, it would have been impossible for Helen to know how similar our circumstances in early 2021 would be to the summer of 2020.

'In response to the pandemic that hit us hard around the time that this edition was being prepared for press, I made the decision with BRF that we would switch out two weeks of notes for some reflections on the crisis and how we might respond to it. This is one of the greatest challenges that we are facing, as a world and as the church, in living memory, and it is important to reflect carefully on what God is saying to us in this time. There is a limit to what we can say in two weeks of reflections, but I hope that they will stimulate some prayerful contemplation.'
Helen Paynter, editor of Guidelines

Today, on the anniversary of the first lockdown in the UK, we're making Helen's series of reflections available for free. We hope that they are useful to you as you reflect today, but that they also help you to retrieve what was good and what ought to be remembered.

Download Letters from lockdown