Easter is early this year, March 31st, and so is Ash Wednesday … next week on Valentine’s Day, February 14th!  So, are you celebrating with Ashes or Hearts?  There are two opportunities at Christ Church on Wednesday the 14th to participate in worship services marking Ash Wednesday, one at noon and one at 6 pm.  The Marking with Ashes is a reminder that we are “dust, and to dust we shall return.”  It starkly contrasts Valentine's Day, a celebration of romantic love.   Ash Wednesday invites us to be marked with signs of our mortality and to acknowledge our fragile and transitory nature.  It is a time to pause, to put to words our confession of rebellion against God’s will, and to be penitent before Him.  Browns, grays, and black make the color palette for this holiday, and the attire, sackcloth and ashes.  So put your red box of chocolates aside until the 15th and join me in the fast of Ash Wednesday as we remember from whence we have come and where we are going, save for the Grace of God. 

FYI, that also means that Sunday, February 11th is Transfiguration Sunday!  So it’s a one-off sermon (not a series) called “Juxtaposition,” read Luke 9:28-36 in preparation.  See https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/juxtaposition for a definition of juxtaposition, and think about how this passage is an intersection of things Heavenly and Earthly.

Peace,

Burt