Ashes to Ashes

 This is Ash Wednesday.

For a lot of Catholics and Anglican Christians, it begins the holy season of Lent.

We remember we are but dust and to dust we return, ashes to ashes. 

It is a somber reminder of our humanity and the finality of life. We are a mere breath.

Today, as a Hospital Chaplain Resident, I am imposing ashes on patients, family, and staff. It is a visible marker of a shared faith and belief. We look with anticipation to the finished work of salvation on the cross and in eager hope of the resurrection.

As my day progressed, I noticed how much hope was in the eyes of the ones giving and receiving this reminder of our existence. It was both a somber moment and a joyful moment.

Two things can exist at the same time.

Like the world we find ourselves in.

Even as it seems like the darkest, certainly the darkest I’ve known in my six decades on this earth.

Completely imperfect as a nation, there was still a glimmer of light until the nightmare became reality. We wonder about the apocalypse.

Then came a day when we all decided that we, the people, were worth more than the cheap imitation of democracy that was being pedaled by crooks and racists.

So yes, we paused to remember the ashes from whence we come and to which we return. We pause to remember the finiteness and that eternity really is eternal.

We choose to live and do all the good we can while we are here, breathing, trying to do good in the world.

So let us hope, and have the courage to stand and not let evil turn our world to dust.

Trying to remember life in the middle of life, sipping tea, giving up bread and chips and chocolate for forty days.