It's Ash Wednesday. I had ashes on my forehead and heard the words "you are dust and to dust you shall return.". We confessed our sins--the ways we have turned away from God and all of creation. We were welcomed at Christ's table and began a journey through this Lenten season.
There is something about Ash Wednesday that I have always loved. There's a grittiness to it, but also a feeling of calm, of slowing down, of being more intentional. That is a gift in and of itself.
The service we went to tonight was lovely. But I miss the tangible parts of full time ministry. I miss having blackened fingers and tracing the cross on foreheads. I miss mixing oil and ash and trying to get the consistency right. Sometimes it's the little things that get to you. And sometimes it's in missing those little things that I realize just how tied to the incarnation my faith and my call to ministry are. Ashes, water, bread, wine. Candle lit faces on Christmas Eve. The smell of incense and Easter lilies. All tied very much to the very stuff of creation.
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