Place: home
Poison: flat white
Favorite things: catching up with friends
I saw this photo of my friends tattoo on social media this morning and it really made me think.
Day 2: Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is all about others.
Growing up as a Catholic, Ash Wednesday was indelibly marked in my memory. We would pile out of our school classes and go to mass, leaving with ash and oil marked in a cross on our forehead.
Most years we would do whatever we could to keep the mark as clear as possible for as long as possible, never really understanding what the symbol and tradition stood for…
The next day the huge crowd that had arrived for the Feast heard that Jesus was entering Jerusalem. They broke off palm branches and went out to meet him. And they cheered: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in God’s name! Yes! The King of Israel! Jesus got a young donkey and rode it, just as the Scripture has it: No fear, Daughter Zion: See how your king comes, riding a donkey’s colt. The disciples didn’t notice the fulfillment of many Scriptures at the time, but after Jesus was glorified, they remembered that what was written about him matched what was done to him. The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, was there giving eyewitness accounts. It was because they had spread the word of this latest God-sign that the crowd swelled to a welcoming parade. The Pharisees took one look and threw up their hands: “It’s out of control. The world’s in a stampede after him.” A Grain of Wheat Must Die (John 12:12-19 MSG)
A grain of wheat must die…The essence of Ash Wednesday is about the sacrifice; a reminder that Jesus had to die in order for God’s plan to come about.
A plan that was all about ‘Others’
The symbol of the ash, is about sacrifice and dying to self. It is at this point of sacrifice that potential and possibility of new life is at its greatest. Burnt offerings are a very present symbol in a lot of religions and spiritual practices today. However in the Christian church the burnt offering that Ash Wednesday refers to is the death of the Son of God to bare the weight and burden for one and all.
Jesus Christ was all about others…
Recently whilst in Margaret River we drove through the fire ravaged area of Prevelly park, Charl and I were devastated. The first thing we noticed though, was the sprinkling of new green vegetation and the amazing community spirit that came together to bring about beauty from the ashes.
The beauty of the Lenten season is that it is based in the context of others…
How can you be more about another today, than yourself?
Ash Wednesday 2012
A
