I love the smell of ashes in the morning!

So once again Lent is with us as last night saw four of us priests coming together to do the Parish Ash Wednesday service and a jolly good service it was too as we marked the beginning of our Lenten journey.

I love the service and relish the task of preparing the liturgy and getting the ash sorted, especially the ash. The ash is created by burning palm crosses and adding a little oil. It brings the reality that the same things that were waved in praise of Christ with loud Hosannas, turned to dust are a great reflection of the 'then' and our own condition now.

The oil, symbolic of the Holy Spirit, brings the Spirit and the ashes together, a mirror of the origins of life and a promise of the resurrection to come.it also means that it is not just a symbol of our repentance, but an anointing for the journey ahead, enabling us to take up our cross and begin our Lentern journey in God's power and enabling.

Of course the oil also helps the ash to adhere as well so spiritual and practical combine - which can't be bad, can it?

For me, Ash Wednesday is the only time a Priest uses the word 'us' rather than 'you' at the absolution (a pet niggle this). On Ash Wednesday we all come and acknowledge our failings, we all are ashed and we come before God as a fallen and flawed people. None are exempt, for all have fallen short of the glory of God.

For me, Lent is about taking up rather than giving up. So many people parade their putting aside chocolate and if I had a pound for every time I have been asked, "What are you giving up?" I'd be rich! It's about self-examination and so we give up things that provide us with more time and less distractions from the task in hand, not for the sake of giving up.

Happy Lent, may our journeying be profitable and draw us closer to God and the image of Christ in us.

Pax