It will not be long, and we will be entering the season of Lent. This year we are once again planning to celebrate Ash Wednesday with the members of First Christian Disciples of Christ Church. We love opportunities to come together around these special days on our liturgical calendars. Watch for our newsletters for details for Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is February 18th this year.
In many ways Ash Wednesday is like the Jewish Day of Atonement called Yom Kippur. Except, the focus is quite personal. We pay attention to our inner spiritual reality and how that affects those around us. In the early Church Christians who committed serious sins had to wear sackcloth and ashes and stand outside the place where the community gathered where everyone could see their desire for repentance. The ashes and dirt on our foreheads are a remnant of that early tradition. They mark our desire to repent.
What does it mean to repent? First, let’s consider what repentance is not. It is not feeling guilty, ashamed, or sorry for what we’ve done. These feelings may drive us to repentance, but they are not repentance. Repentance means to change. It is to stop, turn around, and go in a new direction. It is about conversion to the possibility that we can create something new within ourselves. When we become new and behave in new ways, this changes everything around us, too.
This year let us pray that our country will repent of the violence, brutality, and cruelty that have become who we are today. Let us pray that we will change and become a country that follows the ways of God — to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8).
Join us for the season of Lent.
Emmaus Ecumenical Catholic Community 