Ash Wednesday: grateful for ash
Why am I grateful for ash today? It isn't something for which I usually feel gratitude. Ash sometimes feels like a nuisance. I think of ash in a fireplace that has to be cleared out. Or ash carelessly dropped from a cigarette. Ash sometimes makes me feel sad. I think of the ash that was the last mortal remains of my parents and grandparents. Ash is certainly not something I usually use to decorate my body. I have never repented or grieved in sackcloth and ashes in the literal way I read about in the Hebrew scriptures. So, why today will I welcome an imposition of ash on my forehead, accompanied by the words, 'Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return'? It's hardly designed to cheer anyone up on a cloudy and wet Wednesday morning. Why is it good to be told you are going to die, that you are not immortal? Because I know it is true, but need to be jolted into facing up to that truth from time to time. For Christians, today is Ash Wedne...