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Reflection on Ash Wednesday and Beginning of Lent

 I will send you in this direction: https://rabbitroom.substack.com/p/ash-wednesday-a-heart-grief-rentlanier?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3347135&post_id=187769336&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=2pwl1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email 

I just officially joined The Rabbit Room. I have been a lurker on the edges for several years. A guest on my podcast yesterday encouraged me to join (Joyce McPherson). 

The link posted above is a wonderful reflection on Ash Wednesday, and I am posting it as someone who has never observed the day as determined by the Catholic Church 1400 or so years ago. But I see the hold such a "ritual" would have on Christians: to visit one's faith community, to submit to the somewhat awkward and embarrassing ritual  of having some black substance smeared on one's forehead and having it seen in public afterward, all to be reminded of sin, repentance, death, and the end of life in this phase for an eternal, blessed one. 

So I hope to see that in my life today and moving forward. 

My Scripture today is Ephesians 2:17-22. 

And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,  in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ash Wednesday is not something you can do by yourself to feel like you've met a requirement. It demands community "being fitted together." 

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