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Ash Wednesday Reflections
Each year on Ash Wednesday ashes are smudged on our foreheads in the sign of the
cross as we hear the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall
return: Old and young come forward. Even little babies receive the mark-though
it seems impossible, they too will one day die.
The 40 days of Lent begin with a ritual which reminds us all that indeed our
days are counted. We all will only have so much time on this earth, and then we
will return to it.
These 40 days are a season of repentance. As I count the days to Easter, I must
ask myself, "What must I begin doing that I have left undone? What must I stop
doing that I have done now that I realize that my days are counted?" I have been
living as if I have all the time in the world, when I know that I only have the
time that God has allotted me.
I think the season of Lent is especially hard for us in this northern climate.
Ash Wednesday usually begins when the cold winter winds show no sign of letting
up. We celebrate Easter in mid-April when spring has barely established a
foothold against the grip of winter. Even our climate seems to be teaching us
that holding out hope for the future requires faith.
"For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for
what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with
patience." -Romans 8:24-25
The days of Lent are numbered to remind us that the days of our lives are
numbered too. A prayer I find very meaningful reads:
"Speak to us once more your solemn message of life and of death. Help us to live
as those who are prepared to die. And when our days here are accomplished,
enable us to die as those who go forth to live, so that living or dying, our
life may be in you, and that nothing in life or in death will be able to
separate us from your great love in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen."
Peace
Pastor Peter
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