“Is It Still There?”

Pastors and Deacons everywhere now find ourselves on the other side of Ash Wednesday. Whew! Communities gathered, ashy crosses were marked and now the Lenten season unfolds…

But not before I share two highlights from worship last night. Wiped clean of its ashes, these anecdotes might bring a smile to your face. Both happened during the imposition of the ashes.

First, an older woman who is not new to Ash Wednesday. Drawing the cross on her forehead, I repeated words she has heard dozens of times over the years: “From dust you have come and to dust you shall return.” “I remember,” she replied. “I remember.”

And one more from a little boy. He has not received as many ashy crosses as the woman who will remember. When I traced the cross on his forehead, he turned around and looked at his mom hopefully, “Is it still there?” It was.

Today, it isn’t. If he didn’t wash off the cross with a washcloth, his pillowcase did the trick. The ashes are wiped away yet the cross remains. That’s the gift of Ash Wednesday. We simply trace over a cross drawn at baptism. The cross is still there, now and always. You are indelibly marked as God’s forever. May you remember. May you remember.

Photo by Grant Whitty on Unsplash