Ash Wednesday

Lent is rooted in an ancient word.
Like the Afrikaans word, Lente, Lent also means springtime.
A time of real renewal, creativity and spiritual growth.

A time to bud, blossom and bloom...
to break open, as it were, into new and holy ground.

To move beyond hard and heartless surfaces,
to the real meat and matter of anything, anyone or any situation.
A time of honesty and holiness
A time to return to who we in essence are!
A time to break open into what’s soft and soulful,
always at the core or centre.
A time to enter into
the sweetest marrow.

This may be why, through the prophet Joel, God says
‘Return to me’ – make the journey, make the effort
But don’t give me surface-stuff;
don’t give me pretence or pretentiousness
Give me your heart...
Give me that thing that to our shame, we far too easily ignore,
or cover up, or harden, dismiss, belittle or deride

During Lent there is this lovely
over-emphasis on things like fasting,
weeping, mourning. Why?

Because these are the things that move us beyond
our sugar-coated, glossy veneers.

When you weep, when you mourn,
When your heart is broken by life, love, by loss...
The mascara runs, the masculine mask drops
and the gift of the long-forgotten you
is able to be seen and heard again

To get there takes time and effort...
Forty days, traditionally, means
a long time... So be patient with yourself
as you deliberately and purposefully deepen the Journey.

In this work of love,
be prepared to get dirty.
Any gardener, any gardener knows this...

So it’s appropriate that we start the day with ash.
We danced yesterday, but today we deliberately dirty ourselves.
We remind ourselves that this work of love is hard
But it is also holy – and it requires nothing less than our
whole selves and our whole hearts.
This hard work is holy work...
But it will bring you
back to yourSelf
back to others
back to God