For their planned activity on Valentine's evening, many of our people chose (online or in-person) to join our Ash Wednesday service :) From where I stood, the in-person service seemed better attended than in recent years and my colleagues in our circuit reported the same of their Ash Wednesday services. Why is that, I wonder? It's not a light-hearted worship service - on the contrary, it is heavy on liturgy and symbols of our frailty and mortality. What draws us to this kind of service?

As I painted ash crosses onto foreheads on Wednesday, the phrase I repeated to each person was "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. Turn from sin and be faithful to Jesus. Amen" I was struck by how many people looked me in the eye as I said Amen and gave a determined little nod or even said "I will". This was a genuine moment for people to come back, to return, to repent. Is that what draws us to an Ash Wednesday service - the sense that all is not right with us, that we need God, and that we want to try again? Or is perhaps that, more so than a normal Sunday service, this service draws us in and invites us to participate?

Whatever the case, I hope that this 40 day journey to the cross gives you an opportunity to draw nearer to One who is closer than you can possibly imagine.