When you walk up to the church on Ash Wednesday Pastor O’Neal is standing in front of a moveable fire pit burning palm crosses from the previous Palm Sunday shouting scripture and telling sinners to repent in an all black robe with a purple stole. Then we go inside the church and come out with black crosses on our foreheads in the shape of a cross, what must the neighbors think?
Better yet, what do people who have no idea of what Ash Wednesday is about think. Growing up in the Midwest I didn’t experience a whole lot of cultural diversity so Ash Wednesday was something everyone did; though Grace has a few more theatrics involved than good ole Redeemer ever did.
After church we went to Highline Teriyaki to get some dinner and the girl working there was very curious about our black crosses and we did our best to explain what it meant and what it was about, but in the end gave her some terms to Google hoping that would solve her puzzled look.
It made me think about Ash Wednesday and how personal it is to us. The Black Crosses represent the sin we have against god within. How do you explain the depth of that to someone?
Ash Wednesday is merely a start to an entire season of mourning and self reflection; a self examination to make sure our faith is more than skin deep and that we are strong in our conviction.
On Tuesday when I announced on Facebook that I was giving it up for Lent, one of my friends commented “But you’re not catholic”. There’s a huge misconception that only Catholic’s fast in the season of lent. Fasting during lent is part of sacrificing to refocus that time and energy elsewhere. I like to fast something that could be a better use of my time. One year I even tried to give up homework but my teachers weren’t buying it. I try to direct that energy and time to something God centered. I also try to give up one of my vices that I eat or drink mindlessly every day – so that when I go to grab a bite or drink of it I think “Nope, I gave it up for lent” which puts my mind on Jesus and his sacrifices for us which were way more life changing than me getting rid of my coffee habit (for the record). Fasting also gives you a nice opportunity to share the gospel lesson; I got an e-mail the other day from a friend asking me if I was okay because I hadn’t been on Facebook- (clearly I need to spend less time on Facebook in general) I then got to have a really nice conversation with that friend (via e-mail) about giving things up for lent, and what lent means for me.
So there it is my diatribe of Ash Wednesday and Lent. I hope to share more when I’m not Facebooking this weekend.
To Dust we shall return...
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