Ash Wednesday Services of Holy Communion with imposition of ashes will be at 7:00 AM
and 7:00 PM on Wednesday, February 6, 2008.
"Remember that you are dust," you hear on Ash Wednesday, as a cross is marked on your forehead wih ashes, "and to dust you shall return." The ashes are a sign of your being moral -- of your having been formed of the dust of the earth. The grey smudge reminds you, too, that you are imperfect, that parts of your life need to be changed to make you more the person you can become, the one God created you to be.
The church season of Lent is a special time to think about all of this. Jesus pondered his mission for 40 days while he fasted and prayed. We need to consider our mission. Who am I? What am I changing into? How am I failing to change?
At the end of these 40 days, we will have a chance to be baptized, if we haven't been before, or to renew our baptismal vows with the community. We remember how the water of baptism washes away those ash-gray symbols of our going in the wrong direction. It can even wash away the finalness of our immortality, as we die with Christ in the sacramental waters of baptism and come to abundant life with Him.
Maundy Thursday, as Lent comes to a close, previews the baptismal washing of Easter. Members of the community kneel and wash each other's feet and remember that Jesus told a reluctant apostle Peter that when he is washed, he will be clean entirely. "You ought to wash one another's feet," Jesus says. We need to encourage and help each other in the pathways that lead to new life.
Lent is the time to get ready, to have that spiritual bath. Any way we choose, to make our lives more nearly what they can be in God's eyes, is a good Lenten way.
Make your Lent refreshing and cleansing. Get ready, inside and out, for the bright morning of Easter.
A prayer for Lent from "Touch Holiness: Resources for Worship," Pilgrim Press:
God of the loving heart, we confess before you those places in our hearts where we have refused your entrance; people we have refused to love; habits we never get around to changing; good things we have left undone ... Come to us in the light of Christ. Shine on those places we have hidden from you. Sweep clean the rooms of our hearts, that Christ may find a home among us. Amen.