I walk down the beautiful curved staircase of Methodist Central Hall, and through its great window see the gleaming white Abbey ahead; round the corner is the exotic Byzantine splendour of the Catholic Cathedral. These buildings form a wonderful trio - much more fun than if they had been planned by some ecumenical committee - but they do not obviously proclaim our humanity made one in the body of Christ. It is an age of growing secularism which has humbled us, rather than obedience, as with Christ.Behind the churches looms the Palace of Westminster, overshadowing us all. It has a power over the detail of our lives of which churches only ever dreamed. True, it also suffers the traditional Christian vices of vanity, ambition, fanatical partisanship and self-righteousness - no shortage of Sons of Thunder there.

There too, as in the Church, treasure is carried in earthen vessels - God can work though its disobedience, and that of fallen humankind in so many other circumstances, to create a healing of humanity.The message of Christ's Passion this week is that the purposes of God are never simply achieved among his worshippers. Despite the arrogant illusion of the Churches, they have never been the sole proprietors of the divine purpose - a fact they are belatedly acknowledging by their recent increased enthusiasm to take part in the political process. Christ's death was never the exclusive property of Christians It is God's gift to the whole world. We share a common humanity - never more so than when we are broken or desolate and have most real need of each other. That may be a Christian conviction, but it is one which God has made into a healing truth of universal power..

The Independent has teamed up with Royal Mail's international division to offer you the latest in IT equipment plus cash in a gap year competition. The first prize includes a Tulip Motion Line Notebook computer, an Epson Stylus Color 200 printer and a software package including Microsoft Office 97, Windows 95 and Encarta 97, together with pounds 750 cash to spend as you wish. To win this superb prize, simply write an account of your gap year - in no more than 1,000 words - detailing where you went, what you experienced and how you think it has benefited you since.The entries will be judged by The Independent, Royal Mail's international division, and travel guide experts Lonely Planet.The 25 runners-up will each win a Lonely Planet travel guide and phrasebook of their choice.Just send your 1,000-word essay together with your name, address and daytime telephone number to: Independent/Royal Mail Gap Year Competition, 22 Endell Street, London WC2H 9AD.And if you're interested in taking a gap year, you can send for a free copy of Gap Year Guide, a helpful new booklet compiled by Royal Mail's international division and Lonely Planet. Featuring advice, tips and tales from other people's adventures abroad, it's the first step in deciding whether a gap year is for you.For your free copy of Gap Year Guide, send an A5 SAE to Gap Year Guide, 22 Endell Street, London WC2H 9AD.The closing date for the competition and free booklet offer is 28 April, 1997.It's 5am I wake up suddenly and open my eyes. Directly above me is the bright blue morning sky, met by the mountains that surround the sea. The sound that woke me is the muezzin, the call to prayer from the mosque. The last syllables are still floating across the small Turkish village as it slumbers.

And the movement all around me is the rhythmic lapping of the Mediterranean against the boat that I am sleeping on. I stare blearily at the peace and beauty that surround me and think, for the hundredth time, how incredible my life has become.When I am old and wrinkled, I will tell my grandchildren about that moment. And all the other moments and experiences - the flirtations, the confused conversations, the sights I have seen, the journeys I have taken, the friends I have made. Because that is what travelling gives you: a vast back-catalogue of sunlit memories, of experiences and situations that would never have happened in a nice, safe life in Britain.If you're thinking of going travelling, then don't Don't think, go It will be the best decision of your life. Travelling is too conventional a word for it; it is adventuring, wandering off with a rucksack and a train ticket, with only you to decide where you end up. It's the chance to explore not just new countries and cultures, but also yourself. Away from the safety of home, you have to rely on yourself much more, and you grow in confidence and strength.It can seem a scary prospect at first, particularly if you're weighing it up against starting a career.