The first suggested prayer for the Church of England diocese of Birmingham's 2018 Lent course, which is based on the TV drama Broken written by Jimmy McGovern and starring Sean Bean, is from the Beatitudes in Luke 6:20-31: 'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.'
It relates to the first episode, in which the poverty-stricken character Christina Fitzsimmons, played by the superb Anna Friel,spirals downwards after losing her job.
But is a fitting verse for the entire, brilliant and very moving series.
On the one hand, it is no wonder that Canon Dr Paula Gooder, the thoughtful director for Mission Learning and Development in the Birmingham diocese and former theologian in residence at the Bible Society, decided to create a Lent course based on the must-watch Broken, which tackles major social issues including mental illness, suicide, sexuality, gambling and abuse.
On the other, it is perhaps surprising that the churches – and especially the Catholic Church – have not made more of this series that captured the imagination of many, including many non-Christians.
Presumably this may have something to do with what is, to use Dr Gooder's word, by British standards an extremely 'gritty' storyline based on the lives or ordinary people on the margins of society, and some who are better off but just as troubled, not least the respected Father Michael Kerrigan himself.
Dr Gooder's course is made up of six sessions based on the six powerful episodes of the series, with each session focusing on one character: Christina; Helen, the loving mother of mentally-ill Vernon; Andrew, the conscientious and tormented police constable; the multi-layered Roz, who steals funds from her boss and returns to church to confess; Carl, who is gay and a fierce opponent of hypocrisy in the church, and the complicated priest, Father Michael himself.
Each session contains a synopsis of the episode, a suggested Bible passage, reflections, issues and questions, and a closing prayer. The overall message of the sessions is sympathetic towards each character, whatever their faults and whatever sins they may have committed, small or large (one of the themes is that sin breeds sin, and that small transgressions can lead to bigger tangled webs).
'This course arose out of numerous conversations I had with people after the series aired. So many people commented that they thought it would make an excellent Lent or study course that I thought it would be interesting to have a go,' said Dr Gooder.
'I have shaped the course around the principles of the series itself – which raises far more questions than it ever answers. The idea of the course is to provide the space for people to pick up the questions raised in the series and to explore how they might want to answer them.'
As a priest once said, if you have a bad Lent, you have a bad Easter; have a good Lent, and you'll have a good Easter. The observance of Lent, the darkness before the dawn, is important for any Christian, and you could do a lot worse than this novel, innovative and thoughtful course which focuses on the mind on the very human nature of suffering as we look to the cross while knowing, as David Baker wrote here yesterday, that this is not the end of the story.
