Ashes...

The first time I celebrated Ash Wednesday was in 2007 at Lookout Mountain Community Church, where I was serving on the pastoral staff. My colleague Aram, who comes from an Armenian Orthodox background, administered the ashes on my forehead when it was my turn as I came forward.
       "From ashes you have come, to ashes you will return," he said as he made the sign of the cross on my forehead.
       My knees buckled a bit, and I felt sick to my stomach at that moment. I tried to smile at Aram slightly but failed to do so.
      Ash Wednesday and Lent was always for "those crazy Catholics," as we called them on Long Island where I grew up. I found it slightly nuts that people would go to mass first thing in the morning and get a cross of ashes on their forehead and walk around with it on all day.
      My friend Adam Goldberg (Mo) and I used to joke that people who want tattoos should just get them rather than "fake it" for a day.
       I have been repenting of that attitude for many years now.
       The 40 days of Lent begins today, marked by Ash Wednesday. This afternoon I will make my way to the little chapel owned by my church. I will receive the ashes and consider the transformation that God wants to do in my life these 40 days. I will ponder finality - of life, of death. And most importantly, I will again consider this mysterious and magnificent Jesus who IS life.