Wednesday’s Thought
Good Morning.
How did the pancakes go yesterday? I didn’t have any in the end but went to a good concert instead –well I thought that I couldn’t have both!
Today is Ash Wednesday when many churches hold services in which the sign of the cross is made on people’s foreheads with ash made from last years Palm crosses. Ashes were often put on as a sign of mourning and in some ways this is what we are doing – mourning for the way we live.
This is so different from yesterday’s celebration and wishing to overturn conventions for a short time. Now we are back to reality, you know the morning after the night before when you wish you hadn’t had that drink or that extra pudding or pancake.(An aside –I’m told that it is not the last drink but the first drink which causes the problem. Yes, I know I’m still thinking about that.)
Does this now mean that we have to go about with sombre faces, refusing to have an enjoyable time? My answer is NO – we can still carry on enjoying life as much or as little as we did before today but (and you knew there would be a but) there is now an added dimension to it all. For if we are serious about wanting to take this time of Lent as a time to reflect on what we have or have not done then we will become less superficial and more aware of how our actions affect others.
The prayer used at services today begins ‘Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing that you have made and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent’. I think that is wonderfully empowering as whatever I confess to him God will not hate me. It doesn’t mean that he condones all my behaviour but it does mean that I can tell him anything and know that I am loved. Having that response means that I will be more willing to put right that which I have done wrong and not do it again if I can, but even then I will be supported.
That is no different to how we respond in any other part of our life, if we find someone who likes or loves us, warts and all, we feel good and because we feel good about ourselves we are more able to do the difficult things more readily. That is empowerment.
