Reflections on Ash Wednesday

Last night, the Interim Pastor at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church asked if I would assist with the imposition of ashes at the Ash Wednesday service. It wasn't the first time. For the past ten years I have made the sign of the cross with palm ash and said "From ashes you came and to ashes you will return." Not very cheery, but coming straight out of Genesis 3:19, where the Lord teaches Adam and Eve the fallout of the fall, it's at least the truth. But this year, the interim pastor asked me to add something I never said before.

This year, as before imposing the ashes, I said "You are a child of God." The amazing power of these words are two fold. First is their utter truth. There is nothing false in these words. From Adam and Eve to the newest of all newborns, we are all children of God. This is the plain and simple truth. Second is how rarely this is said. How would our live improve if we looked at people we had disagreements with and said, "You are a child of God?" Imagine cable news if at commercial these words were exchanged between pundits? Imagine fights between parents or parents and children if we began with saying "You are a child of God."

Then remember, Adam and Eve were shut out of the garden. Discipline happens. Yet as discipline happens it happens with love and without scorn or anger or abuse. It comes measured and with love. Yes, from ashes we came and to ashes we will return, but in between--and in every moment that we are more than just the elements in an Organic Chemistry experiment--we are children of God.

Pastor Kemper Huber at St. Andrew spoke on mortality and preparation, and it made me think. It made me think on the ones I know who have left before me. Some left in old age. Some left in tragic accidents. Some left in disease before their time. Others left on their own accord. It was those I spent the most time thinking about that evening because of my thoughts on joining their ranks several months ago.

This is where I am, glad that I am so much better. I thank God for a wonderful wife, good counseling, great medicine, and the loving Lord whose child I am. Yes, I am mortal, but I'm in no rush. There is much to do on this side of the dirt. One day I will return to ash--but on every day before that and on every day after I am a child of God.

Thank the Lord.