Ash Wednesday
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Yesterday was Ash Wednesday which begins on the seventh Wednesday before Easter and marks the first day of Lent. From around the seventh century, the Church had a practice of smearing the sign of the cross on the foreheads of Christians as the words are spoken, "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return." The Christian's Lentern journey, with its climax in Holy Week, Good Friday and Easter, is about participating in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are dust. There is nothing pretty about dust. Yet dust is the material of a beloved creation. We cannot and must not despise this loving work. We are not worth much as a commodity but we are loved, beloved, shaped, molded, caressed and nurtured by the Loving God. Remember you are dust - precious, precious dust.
"Dust you are and to dust you shall return" Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are mortal, and in so doing confronts us with a simple question: We have only one life. How do we want to spend it?
This is why Lent is a period of self-examination and penance. We need to stop and look at our lives - remember what we are made of, remember where we are going - and let go of all those things that don't really matter, all those things that get in the way of loving God, loving others, and being loved by God and by others.
Experienced God @
2:37 PM
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