I was raised up faithfully in the church but never attended an Ash Wednesday Service until adulthood. Growing up, all I knew about Ash Wednesday could be summed in the 70's song by Kansas, Dust in the Wind. Only back then, those acoustic strings were what touched me soul-deep; not the lyrics.
An Ash Wednesday Service brings me face to face with my own mortality. This is especially so when the pastor applies damp ashes to my forehead. Passages of scripture are spoken to remind me how mankind began and ultimately how we end.
It's quite different from the worship services I like best--the cheery ones about how much God loves me.
These thoughts draw me to Psalm 103, a longtime favorite. It's chock-full of encouragement; naming the benefits that are ours as believers. And, I like to be encouraged.
Yet in the spirit of Ash Wednesday, verse 14 jumps from the page when the psalmist declares,
"For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust."
It's sobering to realize that I am so transparent to God. He created me, he knows the best I can do and be and the absolute worst that I'm capable of doing and being. This realization stings, but I'm told it is a fitting way to begin the holy season of Lent.
While it's not a cheery service, I probably won't get a serenade of acoustic strings, I am reminded that God loves me. Ashes are smudged on the forehead in shape of the cross--my favorite symbol of love and forgiveness.
Indeed--he knows my frame--he understands me. He knows I need a Savior.
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| Photography by Bone Read more about Ash Wednesday and Lent: www.upperroom.org/lent101 |
Lovely blog post, it reminds me of a story I read once about Jesus in a room looking at card file after card file of our lifetime of sins. I can email it to you if you like.
ReplyDeleteWe are blessed, in more ways than we can ever count.