Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

Ash Wednesday?

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, a time each spring when people in the Christian church devote themselves to reflection and the transformation of self, community and world.

What about spiritual practice for the season of Lent?

We often hear of people giving something up for Lent. This is done in the spirit of transformation. When we give something up, when we sacrifice, it opens up the question, "Who am I?" without this thing that I have given up -- which of course is THE spiritual question. Jesus suggests an avenue of discovery as we engage in this inquiry when he says, "you are the light of the world."

The ashes of Ash Wednesday come from the burning of the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday service. As you remember, Palm Sunday is a day for our high expectations of Jesus and our spiritual lives; expectations that are dashed at crucifixion (Crucifixion can be read as an entry into our real lives (those not determined by our expectations and stories about our lives). Lent is a time for discovery of our life as it is, not as we imagine it to be. Jesus' Way suggests that you might just discover your life and resurrection in your life as-it-is right here and now.

On Ash Wednesday we are marked women and men -- we receive a smudge of ash on our forehead. So marked, we enter into a time of spiritual practice, reflection and discovery. I hope you will join me as we commit ourselves to transformational practice.

What On Earth do you do with a Spiritual Experience?

This week during Sunday worship we are going spiriutal mountain climibing. Along with Peter, James and John we are going to ascend to the mountaintop with Jesus. There, in the thin air, we are going to percieve Christ in Christ's glory. Matthew will speak of pure white clothing, the brightness of Christ's countenance. With the disciples we will Jesus changed, we will perceive Christ as Christ is.

The Transfiguration as it is called is a spiritual experience. Not so much for Jesus -- he was and always is who he is; but more for the disciples, Peter, James and John, and in our humaness, ourselves. We experience God/Christ in our lives we begin to speak of our mountaintop experiences, the times of closeness and intimacy with God. In Sunday's scripture there are discernable patterns on how we deal with the subline in our lives, That is what we will be talking about: the sublime experiences of life and how to process or deal with them. See you in church!