Lent

A strange little holiday is coming up, and if you haven’t celebrated it before, should you and how would you?

Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth. Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Savior.

This particular holiday is commonly assumed to be a Catholic one, but it has far older roots in the earliest beginnings of the church and has clear modern day relevance for God’s people.

A group of avowed agnostics decided to observe Lent, “atheist Lent” as they put it.

Some of the great symbols of our faith have been sadly misused in history, but this doesn’t make them any less important.

My mother observed Lent and always wore all black to church on Good Friday. One time, shortly before we left the house, I asked her why. 

“Today is kind of like remembering Jesus’ funeral. Of course, we know he’s alive and waiting for us in heaven, but first he had to die.”