Ash Wednesday 2008
I offered ashes to my friends at Resurrection House. Twenty or so people were glad to receive them.
Now, you do not “do” an elaborate Roman Catholic or Episcopalian liturgy at a shelter for homeless people. You simply respond to needs.
So we said no more than the Lord’s Prayer before I “imposed ashes” , marking each person with the sign of the cross.
Most of those who received ashes were Roman Catholics who were so happy to participate in this ancient ritual which they remembered from their youth.
Others were Protestants, who were intrigued with the whole idea of receiving ashes.
To them I explained that the ashes are a sign of our mortality, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”.
And, I added, we make the sign of the cross when we impose ashes on the forehead, to remind us of the eternal and all-embracing love of God: signalled most closely in the cross of Jesus.
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We are, Ash Wednesday asserts:
(1) dusty creatures, each bound for the grave
(2) held in G-d’s eternal love, even in and through the grave.
My “Res House” friends are most sure of (1). They know that their lives hang by a thread.
And it is my task as Chaplain to remind them of (2). G-d’s all embracing love.
Many of them are not entirely certain of this.
=================================================
“Isaiah” sums it up, and his are the words which I will try to take to heart this Lent.
"Is this not the fast which I choose… to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house..."
-- Isaiah 58:6-7
Now, you do not “do” an elaborate Roman Catholic or Episcopalian liturgy at a shelter for homeless people. You simply respond to needs.
So we said no more than the Lord’s Prayer before I “imposed ashes” , marking each person with the sign of the cross.
Most of those who received ashes were Roman Catholics who were so happy to participate in this ancient ritual which they remembered from their youth.
Others were Protestants, who were intrigued with the whole idea of receiving ashes.
To them I explained that the ashes are a sign of our mortality, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”.
And, I added, we make the sign of the cross when we impose ashes on the forehead, to remind us of the eternal and all-embracing love of God: signalled most closely in the cross of Jesus.
===============================================
We are, Ash Wednesday asserts:
(1) dusty creatures, each bound for the grave
(2) held in G-d’s eternal love, even in and through the grave.
My “Res House” friends are most sure of (1). They know that their lives hang by a thread.
And it is my task as Chaplain to remind them of (2). G-d’s all embracing love.
Many of them are not entirely certain of this.
=================================================
“Isaiah” sums it up, and his are the words which I will try to take to heart this Lent.
"Is this not the fast which I choose… to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house..."
-- Isaiah 58:6-7
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