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Imagine now yourself walking into this landscape at dawn.
A place where the world has been stripped back to its bones,
rock, sand, silence, and the slow pulse of light.

Notice the large near cairn of stone at the right side of the picture,
carefully placed. Seven large stones stacked by hand,
each one balanced, fragile yet steadfast.
Each one representing one of the landscapes
of our journey through lent.
This for us lent scape travellers is our desert time
the time when life pares itself back, to the essential.
(what space and time might we create today ? )

We see these wilderness stories of Scripture:
Israel learning how to be a people,
Jesus wrestling with hunger and trust.
Like our ancestors, all of us learning again
how to walk with God for this season
when the path and times feel uncertain.

This desert is not empty as we contemplate this picture.
It is honest.
Here, everything unnecessary falls away.
Noise, comfort, speed, distraction,
left at the edge of the wilderness so that the heart can breathe again.
Each one of these stone may become a reflection and prayer.
A confession,a time of penitence.
A memory of what we collectively carry,
what broke us, what needs reconciliation
and what we hope and peace to build again.

Focus on this large cairn again.It is like our lives:
a fragile stacking of days and wounds,
joys and responsibilities,
griefs and promises.
Sometimes they feel on the edge of collapse,

And yet, somehow, the grace and love of God holds them.
That Grace and love keeps us upright in the wind too.

As the sun rises behind these stones,
its light touches everything:
nothing is too rough, too weathered,
too heavy to be blessed.
Hear the whisper of God
into this landscape we are contemplating :
“From dust you came.
To dust you shall return.
But in this dust, I am with you.”

Ash Wednesday marks us with what we already know,
that we are small, finite, impermanent,
and yet profoundly beloved.
This season is not punishment and retribution
It is invitation to each of us individually and collectively.
To slow down.
To listen to God and the words of others
To rediscover the God who speaks in the quiet places.
Lent is desert time,
a space to remove the clutter,
to walk lightly,
to let the wind sand away the rough edges of our souls.

Stand for a while now among these stones.
Feel your own life balanced,
imperfect and holy.
Let each breath be a laying down,
a stone released:
fear, resentment, hurry, shame.
And let each breath be a receiving,
a stone placed in trust:
mercy, courage, forgiveness, hope.

When you leave this desert time,
your life will be waiting for you
and also the God who walks with you.
But you may find you are carrying
and seeing the world differently
with less fear,
with more reverence,
with the quiet confidence
that the One who shaped the stones
is shaping you still.
Amen.

Sian Yates TSSF