This past Ash Wednesday we did drive-thru ashes at noon and after our 7pm service. Many of our folks came out on that Wednesday, and received this strange, important, sobering blessing. And it was a blessing to know we were receiving it together.
Remember you are dust and to dust you will return.
The ashes remind us of our humanity, our dependence, and our brokenness too. From life through this past year, this can feel like a reminder upon a reminder upon a reminder.
But because you were there, I also knew we weren’t just reinforcing some personal sense of brokenness, but the collective. Because we’re in it together.
That I am dust is true. That I am not alone is also true.
This is continually my prayer for our Lenten journey now, our coming celebrations at Easter, and all that we will face this 2021 and beyond. Getting through a pandemic means we will still have much to process and to grieve. There is brokenness. We feel it in parts of our lives, and we know it’s in our systems.
And we have each other through it. We will hold each other up, face new questions together, share and pray and cry and celebrate.
Most of all, we have God. And the Spirit’s work and joy is to turn our mourning into dancing (see our Psalms from Advent time). Lent is a time to journey with Jesus, and may we see that this is our God—turning ashes into life again and again.
With you,
+ Pastor Shaun
Remember you are dust and to dust you will return.
The ashes remind us of our humanity, our dependence, and our brokenness too. From life through this past year, this can feel like a reminder upon a reminder upon a reminder.
But because you were there, I also knew we weren’t just reinforcing some personal sense of brokenness, but the collective. Because we’re in it together.
That I am dust is true. That I am not alone is also true.
This is continually my prayer for our Lenten journey now, our coming celebrations at Easter, and all that we will face this 2021 and beyond. Getting through a pandemic means we will still have much to process and to grieve. There is brokenness. We feel it in parts of our lives, and we know it’s in our systems.
And we have each other through it. We will hold each other up, face new questions together, share and pray and cry and celebrate.
Most of all, we have God. And the Spirit’s work and joy is to turn our mourning into dancing (see our Psalms from Advent time). Lent is a time to journey with Jesus, and may we see that this is our God—turning ashes into life again and again.
With you,
+ Pastor Shaun