“From dust you came, and to dust you shall return.”

Every year for more than a decade now, I have gone to church on Ash Wednesday to have someone say those words to me as they rub ashes on my forehead.  Every year I anticipate what it might feel like to have someone utter, with no apology or explanation, those haunting words to me.  And despite my anticipation, the moment itself is always a little startling.  It seems appropriate that I leave with ashes smeared on my forehead, taking with me a vivid if strange reminder of what I have just heard spoken.

Ash Wednesday service is where we begin our yearly journey into the Passion narrative.  We know that the story culminates with Easter, a grand celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus.  But first Lent.  “Like Christ, who spent 40 days in the wilderness praying and fasting before beginning his ministry, we spend the 40 days before Easter considering our lives and our relationship with the world around us” (from 2010 Lenten Meditiations).

It seems appropriate that Daniel M. posted a blog last week dealing with the frustration of our finite nature (Falling Whistles).  We cannot help everyone.  We are overwhelmed by our own limitations.  This is where we begin in our Lenten journey.  And then we say we are sorry for what we have done and what we have left undone.  After that we lift our heads and we say to God, but more to remind ourselves, “You hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent…”

Then we begin our 40 days of examination, and by the end we are walking with Jesus through his sufferings and remembering Christ’s compassion for the suffering.  And by the time we get to Easter … but that’s getting ahead of ourselves.  We’ll talk about that in 40 days.