The photo of the day today comes from my back yard, as it was being clobbered by wind and rain. This photo sort of summed up the day in some respects. We had two unexpected calls by two different doctors for Deborah, neither of which I was all that excited about, it was cold and obviously poured, for most of the day… and then…
We went to our Ash Wednesday service (my first that I can ever remember as an adult Christian). At this moment I am trying to figure out how to mentally unpack what just happened.
My emotions were on edge from the day already but sometimes just being able to worship with raw emotions allows the Holy Spirit to have an impact. Brian led worship with a song I hadn’t heard yet (apparently everyone else has) by Tomlin from Passion called “Spirit Fall”, written by Jason Ingram, Louie Giglio, Kristian Stanfill and Daniel Carson, which has some incredible energy with a room of 500 people singing…
Oh, come
Magnify the Son
Savior of the world
The hope for everyone
After an incredible message from Genesis through Luke led by Josh (podcast will be up tomorrow), followed by the “imposition of ashes”, Allen closed with this prayer called The Valley of Vision.
The Valley of Vision
Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,
You have brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see you in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold your glory.Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter your stars shine;Let me find your light in my darkness,
your life in my death,
your joy in my sorrow,
your grace in my sin,
your riches in my poverty,
your glory in my valley.Amen
Sometimes it’s just hard to explain to how God works during corporate prayer and worship, but God was there, waiting for us to bring our worries and cares to Him. As explained by Josh tonight, today started a journey that walks down into and across a long valley and eventually ends up at the peak, the resurrection. I feel right now like I literally have no idea what is going to take place in our house over the next 7 weeks leading up to Easter, but I hope to look back at Easter and see that this night was one of those nights you just want to remember, even if the day wasn’t what you hoped for.
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Ash Wednesday 2011 is this coming Wednesday, March 9th, and as often is the case with specific days that we observe as Christians, people often ask why we observe these days over others. Ash Wednesday comes the day after Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), and is the first day of the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday in particular is observed by the Church body on the seventh Wednesday before Easter Sunday.
A Day of Reflection in Preparation for Holy Week
This begins a time of reflection for God’s people to prepare for Holy Week and occurs 46 days (40 days not counting Sundays) leading up to Easter. Ash Wednesday is a more somber reflection, which starts a season of soul-searching and repentance and both Ash Wednesday and Lent have a long history going back to the earliest church fathers. It is presented formally in the The Apostolic Constitutions, Book V, Section III here where it says:
the fast of Lent is to be observed by you as containing a memorial of our Lord’s mode of life and legislation. But let this solemnity be observed before the fast of the passover, beginning from the second day of the week, and ending at the day of the preparation. After which solemnities, breaking off your fast, begin the holy week of the passover
As explained here it’s name comes from the ancient practice of placing ashes on worshippers’ foreheads as a sign of humility before God, and is symbolic of mourning and sorrow at the death that sin brings into the world. It not only prefigures the mourning at the death of Jesus, but also places the worshipper in a position to realize the consequences of sin. Ash Wednesday is a day of reflection on what needs to change in our lives as we grow to be more Christ-like in mind, heart, and soul.
In the early church, ashes were not offered to everyone but were only used to mark the forehead of worshippers who had made a public confession of sin and sought to be restored to the fellowship of the community at the Easter celebration. However, over the years others began to show their humility and identification with the penitents by asking that they, too, be marked as sinners. Finally, the imposition of ashes was extended to the whole congregation in services similar to those that are now observed in many Christian churches on Ash Wednesday. Ashes became symbolic of that attitude of penitence reflected in the Lord’s prayer in Luke 11:4:
and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.
Personal Reflection on the Season of Lent
Different churches and believers observe Lent in different ways, but not all churches observe Lent today, especially if you come from a Southern Baptist Church (although see Some Baptist churches will celebrate Lent this year and also More Baptist churches looking to Lent for community, confession, cadence). Sometimes anything the Catholics do the Baptists don’t, and this generally revolves around rituals not specifically found in scripture (like Ash Wednesday or lighting candles, but that’s a whole different post).
Without getting too much into the denominational battle, I spent years in the SBC where my particular church never observed Lent, and I never really understood or gained an appreciation for a specific time of reflection to prepare for Holy Week until recently.
In an upcoming post I will go through what our particular church is doing to observe Lent this year, starting with Ash Wednesday, but this is not a “church” thing. If you are not part of a local church, you can observe a time of repentance and reflection right where you are, or here with me on my blog, as I walk through the next 40 days of Lent right here.
For a look at what we are doing at Cornerstone please read The “I AM” Lenten Reader During This Season of Lent.
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Today is Ash Wednesday on the Christian calendar and popular belief around the Internet seems to mark this as a Catholic observation, but it really has nothing to do with Catholicism other than the fact that many Catholics observe Ash Wednesday and Lent. Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent, which is 46 days before Easter (40 days if you do not include Sunday’s), and typically the ritual is to give up something for Lent. The common trend online as of late seems to be for high profile online personalities to give up their blogs, twitter, facebook, and whatever online area that takes up their time.
Depending on your situation and circumstances this may be a good thing if and when it is done for the right reasons, but I suddenly got a pressing feeling that because they did this, others should follow. As I read the details of each individual’s reasons I do understand why each person who chose this for their online life, but what if the online world has now become a way of life, and not something that distracts from life? To take it a step farther. A sin in one person’s life is not necessarily a sin in another person’s life. So where someone may be consumed by their online lifestyle, and that lifestyle leads them away from the Lord, others may thrive in that area and be brought even closer through those relationships and interactions.
So if we, you, me find it necessary to give up something for Lent, why not just do it instead of making an issue out of giving up whatever it is. If it is something you can give up so you can focus that time on the Lord, great, but if you are giving up something for Lent because it is Lent for Lent’s sake, have a Snickers while watching Amercian Idol and forget about it.
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Today I planned to launch a new weekly post category that would give my readers a sense of where we are and what we are up to. We travel (or try to) quite a bit (or use to) and I wanted to be able to share photos and fun stuff about our trips.
Where Are We Wednesday – February 02, 2008
Interesting how life takes over and changes even the best laid plans. It turns out that I am posting this from my mother’s hospital room. Yesterday, my mother had surgery to remove potentially cancerous cells from the wall of her brain (basically results form her last surgery when she had a brain tumor removed). The surgery went very well and she is now in the room, just as talkative as ever. She will be going home tomorrow and we will be heading back to Alabama on Friday. As I mentioned above, this is her second such surgery (and hopefully the last) over the last two years. The first came about when she and her husband were in Colorado and she flew back to Dallas. This time she will have to go through chemotherapy and radiation once she heals from her surgery.
There are no photos to share this time, just relief and thanks to all those who have sent their wishes and have been praying for her. Next Wednesday, we will be somewhere else, hopefully more relaxing and enjoyable. How about anyone else who has traveled or is traveling on Wednesday. Doesn’t have to be something on this exact Wednesday, just let me know something exciting you did on “this” Wednesday, whenever and where ever you are on that day.
