Reflections Following Ash Wednesday

Filed Under Pastor's Blog by Pastor Meredith

The ash cross that was placed on my forehead during yesterday’s Ash Wednesday worship service has been washed off, but this morning thoughts of Ash Wednesday still linger. One of the hardest things that I do during the year as a pastor is to trace an ash cross on the foreheads of my parishioners, look them in the eye and say, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” Basically, I remind these people for whom I care deeply about that they are going to die.

As the congregation filed forword last night, I was aware of those who were not present. The members and friends of St. Paul’s who were marked in ash last year and who have since died to rise in eternal life. It was a sobering reminder of the reality of the words that I was speaking.

Thanks be to God that the ash cross we wore last night was only a tracing of the cross of Christ marked on our foreheads in baptism. That cross does not wash off and it is a sign that although we are dust that God has promised us eternal life.

Yes, to dust we shall return and to eternal life we shall be raised. Thanks be to God!

Blessings,
Pastor Lovell