When I hear friends refer to the Ash Wednesday service as the most significant service of a year, they may be pointing to a similar sense that the veil between God and us is pushed aside as we offer confession. Today, when worship ends without a public opportunity to respond to the gospel through confession and dedication, I feel as if something is missing. ![]() The highest of honors was bestowed on those who committed to leave home to become foreign missionaries. The church celebrated each public decision to confess and accept. The call to confess was the loudest message. In every service, worshippers were urged to come to the front of the sanctuary to confess our sins, accept Christ as Lord, unite with the church and consider full-time service. Each Sunday worship service at my Baptist home church ended with an altar call. Repentance is something that I do understand. Yet I am now surrounded by mainline Christian colleagues who find Ash Wednesday deeply resonant, so I try my best to appreciate its meaning. The Ash Wednesday experience gives me flashbacks to the symbols that the evangelists of my home church would wear or give away - religious-themed bracelets, buttons and the like. I was in midlife before having ashes imposed, and in nearly four decades of ordained ministry, I have never imposed them. ![]() The churches of my youth did not follow the seasons of the liturgical year. Ash Wednesday is still difficult for me to embrace.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |