Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

Welcoming, Caring, Nurturing

Behold the Cross

A Reflection on Ash Wednesday and the Season of Lent

They walk forward; so many of them.

              One in a wheelchair, some with hats to cover

chemotherapy-balded heads,

infants and toddlers who don’t understand (maybe!),

and those who are healthy on the outside … but inwardly broken.

I look deep into their eyes and place the

smudge of ash on their foreheads.

They each hear the exact same words and receive the exact same cross,

“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

It is a solemn slice of time; sin, frailty, and mortality are

the unspoken words of the moment.

 It is a moment of unexpected pastoral intimacy with the people that

God has called me to love and to serve;

to accept for who they are and to call them to holiness.

 The cross reminds us that we all stand as one,

in congregational community, before God.

And we stand in solidarity with others throughout the world;

the Christian family that wears the visible ash cross tonight

and the indelible cross of baptism always.

 Tonight we return to the Lord who is gracious and merciful.

The cross and the words remind us that some other time we will return to dust;

with sure and certain Easter hope that we will return to the Lord eternally.

 But now is the time in between; a time of waiting;

a season to fast, pray, give alms and hold the bullet cross.

O Lord, call us to conversion;

from futility to fertility, fallow ground to fruitfulness, from pain to promise,

from wars to peace, from being bullets to being humble disciples.

 Forty days (we call it Lent) to contemplate that smudge of ash.

The Cross of Christ for my sake!

The Cross of Christ for the Sake of the World!

   Peace,
  Pastor

Note: On Ash Wednesday I introduced the theme of the Cross of Christ for the Sake  of the World.  I asked our members to reflect on the meaning of the cross in their lives.  This is one of my reflections.  I would enjoy receiving yours, with your name, or anonymously, as we journey through Lent.

1950 Nagel Road, Cincinnati, OH  45255

513-474-4938

www.lcresurrection.org