Percolations

You took my blackened branches and turned them Springtime green. | February 17, 2010

I love Ash Wednesday. It’s a day to celebrate my coming from dust and returning thereto, the healing and redemption that Jesus has brought me, and my identity in Him.

Growing up in a southern baptist church, I had no idea what this holy day was. The only holy days that I knew existed were Christmas and Easter, both aligned with some strange creature who knows all and sneaks into your home @ night (so even those weren’t exactly “holy”).

Two things changed my perspective on how to celebrate this, and other, holidays:

1) I began attending Sojourn and became keenly aware that Protestants can celebrate traditionally “Catholic” holidays and that said holidays aren’t “evil” and solely about Mary, as I was taught.  As a matter of fact, these holidays can strengthen and bring about a richness to my faith that I had not thought possible.

2) I met Jason. His wisdom and interest in the Church fathers, liturgy, and Orthodoxy taught me about the ancient ties that these practices have in the faith. What we participate in on these holy days is something that saints from 1900 years ago participated in. What a beautiful thing…

I love knowing that all over the world today, from rural Oklahoma to Venice, Italy, people are celebrating the same thing I am. That we are participating in an ancient rite that has been passed down to us for centuries.  And that we all have ashes on our foreheads.

So…if you’re wondering why you’re seeing people walking around looking like this:

It’s becasue we are reminding ourselves of this truth:

From dust we came and to dust we shall return.

I’ll leave you with a portion of the litany that I adore:

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to one another,
and to the whole communion of saints
in heaven and on earth,
that we have sinned by our own fault
in thought, word, and deed;
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.