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Tag Archives: Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday
Lent is a time, if nowhen else is, not to perform piety, but to practice humility; not to perform beneficence, but to practice generosity; not to perform mourning but to practice grief, for all that is done that should have been left undone; for all that should have been done that has been left undone; with tears and trembling, and the sure and certain knowledge that God, who is compassion and mercy, sees us. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, homily, sermon
Tagged Ash Wednesday, ashes, dust, God, Lent, Matthew 6:1-6 16-12, mercy, repentance
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… There your heart will be also
“What did Jesus treasure?” Or, to paraphrase a once-popular wristband, “What would Jesus accumulate?”
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Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Ash Wednesday, heart, Luke 12:32-40, Luke 18:18-25, Matthew 6:21, treasure
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Ash Wednesday: ice to ashes
Last Saturday, I spent far too much time and energy chipping away at the layer of ice that was left behind after I shovelled the snow. I did it because the sun was out and I knew that if I … Continue reading
Ash Wednesday comes around again
Ashes line the grate after the great snow storm. Chill strikes down the chimney; a ghost stepping over the grave of last night’s fire. Ashes lift and shiver, settle and sigh, whisper to the warm wood tales of passion; eagerly, … Continue reading
Ash Wednesday: grace is not in vain
Lent is a good discipline for me. The soul-searching, the self-denial, the study of God’s grace is something that I need constantly if I am to recognize the enormity, the ridiculous span and spread of God’s mercy.
But constantly is hard to do. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10, Ash Wednesday, church calendar, confession, fast, grace, Lent, reconciliation
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Dust
Between fire and the sky- cold stars trading embers, we are smoke: dust, ash, and air rising and falling
Posted in holy days, poetry, prayer
Tagged Ash Wednesday, ashes to ashes, creation, dust to dust, fire
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Remembrance, repentance, and reconciliation
In Lent, we bury [the word of ululating praise] beneath our tongues, yet even in dust and ashes it is our song, tuning in to Christ’s love, our hope, the truth of God’s undying mercy. Continue reading
Hope in the ashes
There is hope in cold ashes. We do not “do” Lent, we do not approach the fast as those who have no hope, or as though who fear the fire. For God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and … Continue reading
Posted in holy days
Tagged Ash Wednesday, ashes, daffodils, Incarnation, Lent, William Wordsworth
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Penitence
After William Wordsworth’s “Preface to Lyrical Ballads,” 1800 Recollected in tranquillity, passions burnt beyond their embers. Unguarded breath conjures dust devils, smoke without fire, echoes of disgrace remembered by the ashen light of dawn. Dignified in variegated gray, sifted, judiciously, … Continue reading
Posted in holy days, poetry, prayer
Tagged "recollected in tranquillity", Ash Wednesday, Lent, penitence, sin, Wordsworth
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Ashes and coaldust
Of all the symbols that we use in the Christian year, the ashes of Ash Wednesday might be at once the most unambiguous and the most strange. A wise colleague was recently heard to remark on the popularity of “ashes-to-go” … Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged absolution, Ash Wednesday, ashes to go, childhood, Christmas, forgiveness, God, penitnence
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