Lent started yesterday. I have decided NOT to repeat my Lent 2006 experience of sacrificing leisure reading. I am just too human I guess, and just cannot bring myself to do it. Last year the sacrifice gave me more time for praying, reading the Bible, and just plain thinking, but my husband told me yesterday that I watched TV a lot more too, although I fundamentally disagree with his assessment!
Today begins my new (intermittent) blog series: Why I (Heart) The Episcopal Church. In the 8 years since I've been involved with the Episcopal Church it has always been my intention to put together a list like this. Also look for my concurrent series: What I Gained From the Church of Christ. So here goes...I (Heart) the Episcopal Chruch because of ASH WEDNESDAY.
Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, for Christians the beginning of the season of Lent. Like many Christian symbols, there are multiple layers of meaning wrapped up in Ash Wednesday. One of it's meanings is that of penitence with the ashes symbolizing mourning for your sins. But the meaning that I find most powerful in the Ash Wednesday imagery is it's reminder of mortality and death.
"Remember that dust you are, and to dust you will return." These are the words of the priest as he marks my forehead with ashes in the shape of a cross. When I see my face and those of others around me so marked it is a stark reminder that someday (and maybe soon) this body will die. As worshippers walk past me after being marked with ashes, I can only think of the phrase, "dead man walking." Our bodies, like the ash, are the same as the dust. Through the grace of God, my dust is animated at present, but the ashes remind me that my body is actually always in the process of dying.
Chilling? Perhaps. It's not a pleasant thought to dwell on. But I think we need at least one day a year to "remember that dust we are, and to dust we will return."
Thursday, February 22, 2007
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