Quick Summary:

Truth seems to be in short supply these days—at least the kind of truth that we all (or at least a healthy majority of us) can agree on. Everything, it seems, is up for grabs. If it feels like your point of view isn’t getting enough love—all you have to do is find the right Facebook group, chat room, or online news source, and you’re home free. The data doesn’t support your perspective? No worries…crunch your own data. The science doesn’t backup your policy initiatives? No problem…enlist some “alternative facts.” Don’t like the message? Blame the messenger.

Ash Wednesday is an antidote to all that; a no-holds-barred articulation of human origin and destiny in one sleek sentence: REMEMBER YOU ARE DUST, AND TO DUST YOU SHALL RETURN.

The season of Lent is a paradox, for we intentionally examine on the one hand the limits of our abilities to do what God asks us to do, and on the other hand, the depth of Christ’s claim upon us in baptism and the boundless ability of the Holy Spirit to amend and transform our lives.