Ash Wednesday, Year A

​“Thus it is written, ‘The first human, Adam, became a living soul’; the last Adam became a spirit that gives life.”
~1 Corinthians 15:45
 
Humility, vulnerability, authenticity. Three words that draw us into this ancient practice of Lent, of lengthening, of extending and filling out our lives with newness in the same way that the light of day lengthens in Lent. Plants emerge from winter’s rest to explore new growth, new forms of possibility.
 
Humility, comes from hummus—dust, earth, soil—from which we became and to which we return according to the stories of our elders: Dust to dust. Ashes to ashes.
 
Vulnerability. From the Latin vulnus: wound. Indeed, to live is to be wounded, and to (be) heal(ed). To be subject to power and designs greater than ours. To be creature.
 
Authenticity. From the Greek authentes: from two words, autos or self and hentes or doing. One acting on one’s own authority. We are agents with agency, actors with purpose to enact. We are powerful.
 
So here we are, at the doorway to Lent, dusty, wounded, powerful ones seeking to be all that we are, all that we are created to be.
 
Enter into worship. Enter into Lent.
 
Join us this evening at 7:00pm in person or online.
 
Readings: Joel 2:1-2,12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12 † Psalm 51:1-17 † 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 † Matthew 6:1-6,16-21
 
 
About the Art:[i] An abstract painting depicting the words of the psalmist, “Let my prayer be set before Thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.“ 
 
Mike Moyers loves to paint with the palette knife to keep his work loose, textured and bold. His deepest passion is to use art to communicate matters of faith. From his website: I firmly believe that art is a communion with the soul. Through my art, I strive to make known the beauty and wonder of life and faith. The pieces in this exhibit are inspired by things that have touched my life in a meaningful way. They range from plein air and impressionism to abstract and conceptual. My hope is to successfully communicate those inspirations so that you might be touched as well.


[i] Moyers, Mike. Prayer, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57148 [retrieved February 6, 2023]. Original source: Mike Moyers, https://www.mikemoyersfineart.com/.

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