A brimful of ashing
Last week I spent three days away in Spring Harvest meetings, going over the last-minute details for this year's event and brainstorming what we're going to be doing in 2010. We were there for Ash Wednesday and so at the end of the day, Pete Broadbent carried out his bishop-ing duties and took us through an ashing.
I've never been ashed before so it was a new experience! Staff members came in too and Pete led us through a short thing with liturgy and Bible readings. He had his ash ready in a pot (for those who don't know, that's last year's palms from Palm Sunday, burned to ash and then mixed in with a bit of oil) and we went round, marking each other with the sign of the cross with the ash, reminding each other that, 'from dust you were made and to dust you will return'.
It was a remarkbly moving experience and the black cross on my wrist was a powerful reminder of what these next six weeks are leading us towards. As I look at the black cross I cannot help but think about my failings and faults. If someone we love hurts us enough times eventually our feelings of love can evaporate. And yet God never stops loving me despite the fact that I must hurt him so very often. It's very humbling.
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