Windsor Presbyterian Church

Pastor's Letter for February 2012

Ashes

"They are a curious thing, ashes; they are terrible and remarkable by turns."

"Ashes come as a reminder of the ways that humans across history have been horrible to one another, of how we have, with an awful finesse, reduced to literal ashes one another's homes, buildings, cities, histories, and very bodies."

"Ashes can also be a thing of wonder. This day in the Christian year, this day of ashes, tells us that ashes—dust, dirt, earth—are the stuff from which we have been made, and to which we will return. This day, and the season it heralds, seeks to ground us, to make us mindful of the humus, the humility, the earthiness of which our bones and flesh are made. And yet, in the midst of this, the season calls us to open ourselves to the God who brings life from ashes, who works wonders amid destruction, who cries out and grieves in the presence of devastation and terror, and who breathes God's own spirit into the rubble. It is this God who breathes into us, calling our awful and glorious ash-strewn selves to speak words of life and freedom and healing amid violence and pain. Like Jesus." —Jan Richardson, Painted Prayer Book

Ash Wednesday is February 22. We will remember our humanness, and celebrate God's breath into our very beings, in a worship service that evening at 6:00pm. All are welcome—every piece of you that feels horrible and feels wonderful. God can hold the terrible and the remarkable in each of us.

As we approach Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent (which prepares us for the mystery of Easter), may our feet be grounded in God's love and God's grace.

Blessings,
Amy Seymour Haney
Pastor