In Auckland, we are beginning the season of Lent in Level 3 of lockdown. Today is Ash Wednesday, and this evening I was prepared to be leading a service of ashes and calling us as a people to begin this Lenten journey. Instead we will remain in our bubbles at home. It is not a service I could put on line simply, so it must wait for another year. But that is not to say we cannot recognise this day wherever we are. Lent is a time when we are called to prepare ourselves for the biggest story ever –the Easter story. A time to reflect on our own journeys as well as the journey of Jesus. Wherever we are this Ash Wednesday, we step into Lent, and are invited to ponder what it means.

Way back in 2007 I came across the Jewish teaching that everyone should have two pockets in their coats for two pieces of paper… One saying I am only dust and ashes And the other saying: For me the whole universe was created. They are this tangible reminder of the complex contradictions we live our lives amidst. That we are mortal beings – from the words of the graveside, dust to dust and ashes to ashes. And that we are created by this awesome big God, who loves us utterly.

As we enter this Lenten journey for another year, take with you the awareness of your mortality, but also the awareness of your beloved-ness. Perhaps you might use dust from a garden instead of ashes today –it is a similar metaphor... placing a dusty cross upon yourself, or on those in your bubble, and remembering other gardens long ago –one where beloved creation strolled with God and another where the cruel pain of mortality was faced. Eden, Gethsemane, your piece of dust... and remember

“We are only dust and ashes; but for you the whole universe was created.”