Yesterday at my clergywomen support group, I told my colleagues about how hard the whole ashes thing had been this year. One friend said that she, too, had had a hard time with it. Then she got an idea. “I said the ashes to ashes thing to the first person, but every person after that I said, ‘You are loved,’ while I imposed the ashes.” Kind of cool, huh?

In her Ash Wednesday sermon, another friend focused on the love and grace of the season of Lent…she talked about how the whole ashes and dust thing reminds us that we aren’t in control, that we are only human, and that we are loved by God for being human.

Those responses got me thinking…Lent is the one season of the church year that invites us below the surface of our lives, into the depths of who we are. Why invite people into the depths then focus on how bad we are? You’re born, life sucks, then you die. No…in this season of coming clean with all of who we are, we need more than ever to know of God’s love for us.

I think that’s what I’ll try to focus on this Lent–both as a worshiper and as a worship leader–the love of Lent. From dust I have come, to dust I shall return, and I’ll be loved every minute until I do.

Peace for your lenten journey…