Today is Ash Wednesday. Its kinda a big deal.As a Pastor, Ash Wednesday is an intensely intimate day. Sometime after 7pm I will touch the foreheads of half of the congregation and will remind each and every one of them that "they are dust and to dust they will return." Young and old, male and female, whoever comes forward hears these words reminding them that life is temporary. The sweep of my thumb across their forheads imposes upon them an ash cross - made of the Palms of a bygone Palm Sunday - and with it gives a physical, visual reminder of the call for repentance. Essentially I am saying "the clock is ticking" but that is always followed with "but its not too late."
Ash Wednesday isn't all about impending death and the reckoning of God. There is in the midst of all this a reminder, a foundational reminder, that things can (& have) change(d). We can take this very day as a starting line to do some of our reckoning & begin something anew. More than giving something up for Lent, more that an emotional response to a moving service; we can turn today into a charge to live a life in relationship with God and our brothers & sisters all the world around. Today can be the day when realize that we don't have a minute to loose.
Come on out and share a Spaghetti Dinner & a service of Ashes with us tonight. Dinner starts at 5:30pm & the service is at 7:00pm.
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