Reflection given at St Margaret of Antioch, Toxteth, on 18 February 2026
This season of Lent is about a journey—from despair to hope, from death to life. It begins with an acknowledgement that we are weak, that we are mortal; that each of us, rich or poor, honoured or despised, cannot avoid the inevitable. We will all die. But that is not the end of the story, for when we receive the ashes, we are not only reminded of our sin and frailty, but also encouraged to look to Christ, and in him is hope. And so these next few weeks will, like Jesus’ period of fasting and temptation in the wilderness, prepare us for the cross and Resurrection, the triumph of our Lord over sin and death.
As I wrote this short reflection, I hoped to find inspiration by reading some of my earlier writings about Ash Wednesday and Lent, and I was quite surprised to be reminded of my own journey. I had described myself in one piece of writing as an ‘agnostic Anglican,’ as ‘not a supernaturalist’ and even alluded to being an ‘atheist.’ This was more than a decade-and-a-half ago, and although I recall wrestling with these things, I didn’t remember having expressed them so clearly in writing. I confessed to not having been to church for two months when I attended on Ash Wednesday in 2010, but I also wrote how much the day meant to me because it was such a stark confrontation with the reality of death—the one thing believers and non-believers, theists and atheists alike, can agree on. And here I am, 16 years later, a friar and deacon, and soon to be ordained priest. I can’t identify the moment when I started believing again, and I’m not entirely sure how I came to believe again; I can only say that I took a chance on attending church again, and as I heard the Word week after week, as I recited the Creed week after week, and as I received the Sacrament week after week, somehow faith grew on me again; or perhaps better to say that Christ grew in me again. For this reason, my best advice to anyone who wants to grow their faith or, indeed, find faith, is simply to pray, to worship and to participate in the liturgical life of the Church. It is as St Paul said: ‘Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.’
We are called to an act of faith tonight: ‘Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.’
As together we embark on the journey towards Holy Week and Easter, this is an occasion for us to look back on our own lives and reflect where we have been, where we are and where we want to be; and most importantly of all, where God has taken us and where God now calls us. We may surprise ourselves; and as, during Lent, we open our hearts to look to Christ and the hope of the Resurrection, perhaps God will surprise us.