We don't even know.....

"We don't even know what our sin is."

I had brought ashes to this wise woman whose spiritual presence calms and strengthens me.  We talked about the ritual of ashes on Ash Wednesday and how Lent begins with a good, comprehensive confession.  Then she said,

"When I think about it, I think we don't even know what our sin is."

We don't, of course, because we cannot see all the harm we have done to others: the snarky comment, the impatient sigh, the offhanded criticism. Add to that the good that we failed to do.

I know that all of this is covered in the official, traditional confession, but it was such a powerful statement from a gentle, loving, diligent person of faith that it caught me up short.

"We don't even know what our sin is." 

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.

I've got ashes on my forehead

ASHES

i got ashes on my forehead and
i'm trying hard to learn
this dust that i have started from
is where i shall return
and i will follow out of love
'cause there is nothing i can earn
i got ashes on my forehead
and i'm trying hard to learn

sometime in the dead of winter
this Wednesday rolls around
we got purple on the altar
we got snow upon the ground
and this world starts spinning slower
and we sing some quiet songs
facing our mortality and
all that we done wrong

forty days in the wilderness
forty days on the ark
driving home this evening
i can still trace the mark
everybody sees the big sun setting
everybody rides the hearse
yeah, but you can't build up nothin'
'til you knock down somethin' first

i got ashes on my forehead and
 i'm trying hard to learn
this dust that i have started from
is where i shall return
and i will follow out of love
'cause there is nothing i can earn
i got ashes on my forehead
and i'm trying hard to learn

from Jonathan Rundman, released 03 January 2012

      Available from I Tunes.   Thank you Jonathan Rundman for this.     

A difficult truth

"Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return"

That is the Church's way of reminding you that we will all die; this life is fragile, a gift.  No amount of running around or running for exercise will save you from this universal end.  You will return to dust.

Wednesday we will use ashes as the starting point in our Lenten journey; 40 days of renewing, deepening, and stretching our relationship with the Creator of All. 

Come and enter into the season of Lent where you can discover again for the first time the love of God.