Lent is the season to practice returning to God
Today is the beginning of the season called Lent. Originally Lent was a time of preparation (40 Days) for the celebration of the resurrection of Christ. In the early church, on Ash, Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season, ashes were used to mark the forehead of people who had made a public confession of sin and were returning to God. Later in history, the imposition of ashes was extended to everyone because “all have sinned” and everyone is called to return to God.
So, as friends and family of Crossroads, we will be preparing for Easter in a few distinct ways, and you’re invited to practice with us in any or all of these ways:
1. Ash Wednesday service tonight 6:15-7 pm (in Main Auditorium)
2. Weekly Fasting: Choose a day of the week to fast. Fasting is not limited to food and drink. Listen for an invitation from God to make room
3. 4 Gospels Bible Study (tonight) or Small Groups throughout the month (in Crossroads Cafe)
4. Sunday Mornings 10:32 LIVE or online: ccmonline.org We will be exploring distinct ways to practice through Lent and prepare for Easter. We will offer prayer practices that honor the way God made you, ways to pray that won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you! Who knows, you might discover a new prayer practice that connects you to God in ways you’ve never known.
Let’s begin this Ash Wednesday with a blessing from~Jan Richardson
Blessing The Dust
All those days
you felt like dust,
like dirt,
as if all you had to do
was turn your face
toward the wind
and be scattered
to the four corners
or swept away
by the smallest breath
as insubstantial—
did you not know
what the Holy One
can do with dust?
This is the day
we freely say
we are scorched.
This is the hour
we are marked
by what has made it
through the burning.
This is the moment
we ask for the blessing
that lives within
the ancient ashes,
that makes its home
inside the soil of
this sacred earth.
So let us be marked
not for sorrow.
And let us be marked
not for shame.
Let us be marked
not for false humility
or for thinking
we are less
than we are
but for claiming
what God can do
within the dust,
within the dirt,
within the stuff
of which the world
is made
and the stars that blaze
in our bones
and the galaxies that spiral
inside the smudge
we bear.
God bless you as you prepare to celebrate the Miracle of the Resurrection!
God bless you as you prepare to celebrate the Miracle of the Resurrection!
