Lent

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday and the beginning of lint. I participated in Episcopalian service at St. Matthew’s in Farmers Branch. Every-time I go to a “high liturgical” church I am reminded of the beautiful prayers and order of the reading of scripture and communion. There were about twenty-five people gathered into the sanctuary. There was no microphone, the lecturern was off to the side to signify the power and respect for the Holy Scripture. We had the ashes placed on our head while we read through the book of common prayer about the sinfulness of humanity. The Fr. told us “From dust you were made and dust you will become.”

I identified with the ash and realized the magnitude of not only my sin but whole world is fallen to the same thing I had succumb to, the darkness. It wasn’t long before my thoughts went to the book Hebrews and the humanity of Christ. It was then I realized that he who knew no sin, felt the darkness of the soul as a man. To the point, which he had blood and tears in the Garden. The Cross might have been the place where he died, but it was the garden where I identified with him on Wednesday.

Lent is a time not of just fasting and prayer but of a recognition of the Darkness of sin. Sin not of only yourself, but the sin in the community of faith, and also the world. This recognition can be lived out through the ashes of doubt in the normalcy of everyday life. Somehow noticing the ashes gives one a different outlook of the sins of others. The ashes leads to the Cross, it leads to the forgiveness and pardon of those that we live life around. The Ashes will not lead to judgment but to the stepping stones of what the entire Gospel is about, Love. The ashes are a symbol of death, dying and doubt. As we all know, these are realities of life that we try and run from but always they seem to find us, even here in the the Gospel message, the Ashes are here for us. However, the midst of our lives, the Ashes can lead to light that overcomes the darkness. Let the Ashes wash over us and realize that we are not alone. Let the ashes lead us to the Light.