*The interior of Leeds Minster hours before the evening Ash Wednesday service. The only soft surface at the chancel is the artistic Lenten altar cloth. *

Welcome to Creative Work Hour on Ash Wednesday!

CWH community on Hive is not a faith-based group, as our scope is specific to the support of creative work. But like faith, there is a practice, an opportunity to show up in that part of your life each day.

I didn't grow up in the church. I never once attended with my mother, and only twice with my father, once when I was five. He and I attended an Easter service with my mother's cousin and her children who were near my age. The other time that we were both in a church together, he was uncharacteristically wearing a morning suit and I was wearing a dress, a white one. But that's another story!

Who Gets the Credit for "Less is More?"

The idea of forgoing a particular habit for forty days intrigues me as a creative. As an architectural and industrial designer, I thought that Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is the one who said, "less is more." Nope. I learned it was the poet Robert Browning in his poem about and named for the real-life painter, Andrea del Sarto in 1855.

During CWH today, I got to thinking a lot about the "less is more" concept. As you may have read in my posts, I'm an American living in the City Centre of Leeds, England. The famous 1000 year old place of worship is only fifty metre from my flat (photo of the interior above). So, I looked up the Ash Wednesday service and Voila! I hadn't missed it. As I write, I still show evidence of having been.

I attended this Church of England Ash Wednesday Eucharist service and learned a couple of things. Firstly, how one gets the smudge is that one "receives the imposition of ashes at the communal rail from the minister". Secondly, one has to return to the communal rail later in the service to "receive the blood and body of Christ," by one minister giving the former and a second minister giving the latter.

May I confess how I embarrassed myself? As the elements of communion were coming my way, I just stared at the minister standing over me with the chalice, the one that the worshipper next to me had sipped from. Almost in a regal non-verbal, the minster showed me the holy cloth with which she was wiping the rim.

I may even go to that dark eternity because rather than hold up the kneeling queue, I said to myself, "what the hell?," and sipped from the cup. Once back at my pew, I strained a bit to not laugh because the liturgy that followed repeated these words, Lord, have mercy, more than ten times. I must have needed to hear that.

Your Turn with Less is More

Regardless of who coined the phrase, if less is more resonates with you, what might you give up for Lent, creatively speaking? What’s one thing—distraction, habit, tool, or mindset—that you could let go of to reduce friction in your creative (if not spiritual) life?

Lent is a season that gives us 40 days to strip away the unnecessary and make space for something deeper. In "Wild Bright Hope", the journey of renewal reminds me that letting go isn't just about sacrifice—it’s about making room for something better. Creativity, like faith, flourishes in open space.

Here's today’s CWH crew who showed up & shared their creative energy:

@bitterirony
@bobbie0122
@bobbyb58
@expansivelove
@gregscloud
@hillarycad.witch
@michaeljohnson.tv
@gretchenshepherd
@n4trix
@shadowspub
@wailing.fong
@alessandrawhite

CWH Album of the Day

During the Imposition of the Ashes, the choir sang music that I had only heard when I was a student at music conservatory. The resonance of those voices in the ancient stone minster took my breath away. It took some digging but I found a recording of the Westminster Abbey choir of Psalm 51 sung as English plainchant that date back to the Anglo-Saxon period, circa seventh century. I really hope you give it a listen.

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That's all for today's post for Creative Work Hour, so please share your thoughts What will you let go of to spark more creativity?
Drop your thoughts in the comments!

Much love! 💗
Alessandra

SAVE THE DATE! @HiveSpaces Featured Guest: @arcange
On March 25, @shadowspub & I welcome @arcange for an exciting conversation on the @hivebuzz, @hiveauth, and @hivesql projects—come to learn and have fun!

Date: Tuesday, 25 March, 2025
Time: 12:30pm PST | 3:30pm EST | 8:30pm UTC | 9:30pm CET
Where: HiveSpace Studio on the “no KYC” GoBrunch platform

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