Ashes

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Again and Again
Brokenness mended into healing
Isolation beckoned into community
Stories that release us from what holds us captive into freedom
Stagnation pulled into engagement
Contentment unfasted to move forward
Again and again.

Again and again, we make our way into the darkened holy space where silence fills the room.  The words rise forth, the songs linger in our being but in the midst of it all we are longing to feel the brush of the ashes being swept across our foreheads with purpose. We long to stand in the hush of the sanctuary knowing that God makes God's mark upon us and to stand in the silence as time feels suspended. The brush of the ashes helps us to glimpse the power of coming face to face with the Holy One.  We want to know that in the days to come we can once again experience the depth of death that leads us into a story of healing, beckons us into community, frees us, calls us into engagement with our whole being, and moves us forward into this life of redemption and resurrection.  We long for the ashes that tell us that God is with us again and again.

On this holy day, may you feel the brush of the ashes upon your forehead.  May you hear the holiness of our God coming to you, again and again, to remind you that in  the sweep of the ashes death is not permanent, new life is coming, that your joy is being restored, and that God comes again and again.

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