Ash Wednesday
As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. For God knows how we were made; the LORD remembers that we are dust. As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. We slowly walked to the front of the sanctuary and Sue began the invitation to the imposition of ashes. Christians have been doing this since the ninth century, so this is not the first ash-rodeo of Christianity. It became complicated today, and it is unclear if human or holy hands were at work. Sue didn’t attempt the trite words often offered on Ash Wednesday but instead gave us thoughtful, theological words that recognized the gravity of sin and the promise of grace. Hers were a poetic summation of the Heidelberg invitation to die to the old and rise in the new. She was ...