All day people have been coming and going from the Roman Catholic church at the bottom of our street.
They come with clean faces. They leave marked with ash.
It seems to me a shame that the ‘reformed’ church has never quite embraced Lent. There is something very rich about discipline and something very deep about the wilderness.
And there something very powerful about leaving church bearing a mark. An outward sign of an encounter with God.
sat here, pretty much all day, planning worship for sunday… finding my self lost in the wilderness of the bible… completly forgetting it is ash wednesday. I have to agree, a huge shame we (the URC) miss great oppotunities to celebrate, encourage and share these beginings (the begining to lent). we celebrate the end in beinging Easter, of the cruficision and resurection with such great passion (or at least we should), yet the begining seems some what missed, apart form a noted mention on the first sunday of lent…
I like the idea of leaving church having encountered God.