Reflections on the Lectionary

Lectionary-related content sorted by week

Reflections for

Ash Wednesday

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

Feb 22, 2012

A comment on my recent rush-hour-communion post mentioned the Episcopal Church's recent practice of Ashes to Go, a form of "liturgical evangelism" that has brought congregations out into streets, bus stations, train stations and subway stations to dispense ashes on Ash Wednesday.

When I started to read about Ashes to Go, I had many of the same questions that I brought to early-morning communion. At first I thought, ashes to go? Whatever happened to liturgy and community? Aren't we just feeding into our culture's unwillingness to stop for anything at anytime? Can ashes really be offered like a fast food item at a take out window?

But once again, in the midst of these restless and protesting thoughts, another reality has stepped in.

To Ash Wednesday

Feb 20, 2012 by Steve Pankey

I’ll post on the lessons for Lent 1 for the rest of this week, but today my thoughts are focused on what to preach for Ash Wednesday in a parish I don’t know very well. Ash Wednesday is probably a top-five “liturgies that say more than any sermon ever could” service (with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil and Ordinations).

Features

2 comments

My Lenten fast

Giving up anxiety

Feb 17, 2012 by Lauren F. Winner

I worry about avian flu. I worry that my identity is being stolen right this second. I check four times to make sure I turned the stove off. It's breathless, compulsive behavior.

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5 comments

Suffering through Lent

Illness and God’s promises

Mar 08, 2011 by Deanna A. Thompson

When Ash Wednesday arrived in 2009, my recently diagnosed stage IV cancer had already reduced two of my vertebrae to dust. I feared that the rest of me wasn't far behind.

Poetry

Lent opens

Mar 04, 2011 by J. Barrie Shepherd

and we're off again
with forehead freshly smeared
and spirit seared anew by
memories of dust, rumors of all
or nothing up ahead.
These frigid days and weeks lean
inward, huddling for warmth, and
disciplines attempt in vain
to shape them toward value, meaning,
promise. Warmth will, of course,
return bearing its customary,
temporary, blossoming.
But all remains a stay of execution
till the stone is rolled, those sentries flee,
and startled women run with aching news.