Dust to dust

Last evening we spent putting ashes on our foreheads as a sign of repentance.  It is in the baptismal water that God marks us and we become part of the church and a community of faith but when we leave the doors of the church the followers of Jesus Christ can then blend in with the rest of society. God's baptismal mark evaporates away and we look like everyone else.   One hopes that just perhaps our actions will be evidence of our distinctiveness in this world as a follower of Jesus.  

But on Ash Wednesday, a black smudge is there for all to see.  It is a visible sign that marks us as a follower of Jesus Christ and as we enter the season of Lent we commit to go deep with God pledging our love and disciplined devotion to pray and to serve.  There is an inward and outward movement that takes place in those who seriously take this forty-day journey.  We go inward with God and outward to serve others.  We breathe in God's Spirit and we exhale Jesus' words. 

Yesterday, I shared ashes with our preschool students in Preschool Chapel, it is the one monthly meeting that I love!  We talked about how we love God and can serve others and as a sign of that love and service, we accept the ashes which we marked on their hands ... and even a few on their heads.

  

Later that day, I see an image of a mother marked with ashes in the form of a cross holding a student who I assume to be her daughter outside of a Floridian school as other loved ones wait with empty arms. 

Last evening, people came forward, their eyes stoically fixed on my own and I wipe dark ashes, again in the sign of the cross on their heads and vary my comments, "Repent a believe the gospel" or "To dust you are and to dust you will return." 

In the lobby, I jump into a group picture of our confirmands who attended the Ash Wednesday service ... each bearing the mark of Christ for all to see.  

In the Friendly's, I join four of our senior-friendly ladies" for a scoop of ice cream, each of us bearing Christ's mark and folks quizzically glancing at our dark smudges.  

All images that flash across my mind this morning.  Each a profound image of Christians in our society ...  may Christ's actions and words be equally as present in our lives as the marks are washed away and we journey in the shadow of the cross.