(Getting ready for Lent to start again in a few weeks…  This post was originally written for the NCMA blog on 2/23/12.)

This week, on Ash Wednesday, we will have ashes “imposed” on our foreheads, marking us with a dusty, ashy cross as we set out on the journey towards Easter.  We will try not to be self-conscious when we see ourselves in the mirror, or clean off the stray ashes as they fall on the bridge of our noses.  We will go about our day, marked so that no one can miss it, while trying to pretend it’s business as usual.

I’ve been thinking about Ash Wednesday a little differently this year as I’ve worked on the liturgy and prepared myself to say to people, one after the other, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  I blame it on the pottery classes I’ve been taking.

Each week, with my hands in the clay, I am reminded that I am made of the same stuff.  Each week, when we ladle soup into bowls I’ve made, I am reminded that they used to be lumps of clay.  Each week I form lumps into new shapes and I am also being formed – not just into a potter, but into someone who pays more attention.

On Wednesday as people come forward during worship, I will be holding a small blue bowl I made, which will, in turn, hold the ashes.  Dust, holding clay, holding ashes.

The journey of Lent is simply a reminder of our bigger journey:   pilgrims on the way, dusty from the road, and marked by the cross.  The journey is to practice:  paying attention, knowing who we are, seeing the big picture.  Remember that you are dust.  There is no other business than this.  We are all lumpy clay, with the Potter’s fingerprints all over us, forming and transforming us until we transform once again into dust.