Ash Wednesday - a day when we remember the fragility of life

It is a solemn day, where we remember the fragility of this earthly life, our mortality.

On that day, I will be drawing a small cross in ash on people’s foreheads and saying the words "remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return".

It might sound like a pretty bleak way to spend a day. But I always find it quite moving – and humbling to be reminded that I am not God, that I am flawed and weak, and need help and love and forgiveness.

And yet, I also remember that I am not alone. I have other people who help me when I am in need, love me when I cry and ultimately, I have God who is always with me even when other human beings can not help.

Reverend Rachel Shuttleworth (Image: St Helens Star)

This year, we will be praying in our service for those who have been affected by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria and collecting money for the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal.

I have, I am sure like many of you, been moved to tears by the images of parents holding the hands of their dead children in the rubble.

And by the BBC news report of a fiancé cradling the body of his beloved – one minute preparing for their wedding the next, her funeral.

The coffee shop I went in this morning had a handwritten sign in the window informing people that they could donate items to help the relief effort there: ‘Anything you can give’.

It is hard not to be moved by the plight of people in such a desperate situation, especially when it is on our TV screens and newspapers all the time. And yet, there are people all around us who we can love too.

We can open our eyes to one another, ask ‘how are you?’ and really listen for the answer.

Our human life is fleeting and fragile, but love isn’t. Love is strong, and life giving, and holds us in our weakness.