Today I attended my first Ash Wednesday service. I was asked to sing special music for the service and realized as I tried to pick out music that I had NO IDEA what Ash Wednesday was about. How embarrassing!!!! At least I thought it was embarrassing at the time, but it seems that most Christians now a days have no idea what Ash Wednesday is all about. Most know that it is the official start of the Lenten season and that people walk around with ashes on their foreheads, but why? Turns out the answer is rather simple. Ash Wednesday is a celebration of our own mortality and brokenness. It is a time when we as Christians reaffirm the fact that we are sinners and desperately need God's forgiveness. The ashes represent the wearing of sackcloth and ashes to show deep, heartfelt penitence. When Pastor Tom placed the ashes on my forehead this evening he said, "From dust you have come, and to dust you will return". It is a scary moment when the realization dawns upon you that your life, in the grand scheme, is nothing but a moment in the story that God is telling with this world. The ONLY thing that gives this short existence any meaning, any goodness, any light, any happiness, any fulfillment is God. If you don't have God you are just dust on the breeze, here for a moment and then gone without a trace. This glimpse of reality without God was eye opening for me. I don't remember a time without God, so for me it is hard to understand a world without light. Look around us. The darkness is closing in. Thought for the Day: Bringing Light to the Darkness in this World is Our ONLY Purpose.
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