Ash Wednesday Eve

 

It is Ash Wednesday Eve.  Tomorrow, we will gather to worship where ashes are offered on the back of your hand as a symbol and sign of mortality.

To which you are probably thinking:

“Gee thanks for the invitation, Pastor Eeyore.” OR

“Gee I would love to you, but I am scheduled for a root canal ~ which sounds more fun.”

“Wait…do people actually come to that service?”

Insert stunned silence here.

 

Stay with me.  It is important to acknowledge and accept our mortality ~ not in a ghastly way or depressed state, but as a truth to be explored.  This is challenging in a world that worships at the altars of youth and legacy.  We long to appear healthy and wealthy and wise ~ or at least that is what we post on social.  We also long to know that when we do finally breathe our last breath, something of us will live on.  Yet, deep down, we know that the sphere of impact and influence in our lives might not be splashy or spectacular.  I don’t think people are going to be reading my book or studying my sermons for centuries to come.  That’s okay.   I don’t even know that five minutes from now you will remember this post you are reading.  That’s okay too.

 

Ash Wednesday invites us to the vulnerable and tender place of realizing that we are dust ~ made of soil and stars ~ and to creation we return.  It is who we are and who we will be.  At the same time, we have one beautiful, wild, and precious life (thanks to Mary Oliver for that phrase) to be explored, experience, and embraced.

 

I also know that the greatest impact I can make is with my family and friends.  So, this Lent, I will seek to be open to the mystery and miracle of the ordinary.  I will mourn and grieve times when my heart breaks and soul aches as I hear your stories or read the news.  I will celebrate with prayer and praise moments my heart is strangely warmed.  To be alive ~ fully ~ is what we are preparing for on Easter morning ~ resurrection is about life in all its beautiful messiness and imperfect wholeness.

 

This Wednesday I will live fully knowing that every day is more holy than I could ever explore or exhaust.  When I see each day ~ not burdened with unresolved pain from the past or fear for the future or problem to be fixed/solved~ to see this present moment saturated and soaked with the Sacred ~ today is enough. 

 

Happy Ash Wednesday Eve.  With great love to you who I shared this journey with in such a time as this.