Words of Fire
  • Home
  • About Margaret-Ann
  • Storytelling
  • Flames (Blog)
  • WORDshops
  • Resources
  • Contact

Lent for the Rest of Us

2/21/2012

 
"We'll probably need white ashes for you guys."  It was the priest's attempt to be amusing.  He wasn't. My brother and I had transferred to a predominantly white parochial school. I was 11; my brother was 9.  We were feeling lost and disconnected in this place--urban immigrants who didn't know the language or the strange suburban customs. We had walked to our former school. We had to ride 3 buses to get to the new one. My grandmother had been the unofficial class mother at our former school. She was not welcome in the new one.  Life had changed.  I thought that, at least, Lent would be the same.  It wasn't.

As "low church" Protestants in a Catholic world, we had always felt as if we were on the outside looking in.  But it never seemed to matter much before--not until that first Ash Wednesday.   We were reminded, using the church's liturgy, that we were not welcome, that we did not belong.

I must confess, it took me many years to let go of the anger and the hurt that the priest imposed on me with those ashes.  Many Ash Wednesdays have passed since that day, but since that day I have since been strangely comforted by those same ancient words:  "Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return."  So I mourn for that priest--who spent the next several years making equally insensitive comments to us.  I mourn for the church, and how we fail to embrace those who do not look like us.  I mourn for the hate and the violence that have invaded our world and robbed us of innocence and kindness and joy. I mourn for my own myopic vision of the faith and ask God to forgive me.  Wednesday's ashes remind me that God is not finished with me, nor is He finished with the church. He has given us another chance.

Tomorrow, I will mourn. But I will also rejoice that Ash Wednesday's repentance will lead to Resurrection Sunday's victory.  That's what Lent means for me.  That's what it means for those who do not have the tradition, yet we embrace its significance.  That's what Lent is for the rest of us.

MDH
2/22/2012 09:06:11 am

Moving story ...

Michael B
3/3/2012 12:31:18 pm

What an gripping account. It is only God's amazing grace that allows one to grow in understanding from experiences that could have destroyed.


Comments are closed.
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Ash Wednesday
    Celebration
    Community
    COVID 19
    Creativity
    Dating
    Death
    Easter
    Encouragement
    Faith
    Family
    Generosity
    Gratitude
    Healing
    Hope
    Hospitality
    Intimacy
    Joy
    Lent
    Palm Sunday
    Peace
    Prayers
    Psalms
    Purpose
    Racism
    Relationships
    Resurrection
    Stories
    Storytelling
    Transparency
    Trust
    Wholeness
    Work

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    May 2020
    April 2020
    November 2016
    May 2014
    April 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.