Ash Wednesday
On Wednesday, February 22nd we’ll gather for Ash Wednesday. This gathering marks the beginning of the Lenten season; the six weeks leading up to Easter. We’ll have three identical services, each 15 minutes of singing, reading, and administering the ashes.
Join us at ICI at 7:15 AM, 7:30 AM, or 7:45 AM.
Death will not be ignored.
It's a cloud hanging over every breath we breathe. Our strategy is avoidance and we look the other way. We cover our eyes and put our hope in technology, medicine, and delusions of grandeur. Or like some whom the Apostle Paul surmised, we say, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
Death will not be ignored.
Perhaps this is a silver lining to the horrors of these past years. An invisible enemy has claimed millions of lives. The simple distinction of skin color has turned more and more Black names into hashtags. Brazen hubris and power have bombed peaceful Ukrainian streets. Clouds clearly cover more and more sunlight.
Death will not be ignored.
For generations Christians have taken time to contemplate and, as priest Tish Harrison Warren has said, "name the fact of death." When we name it we take away it's power. Because it thrives in dismissiveness; it flourishes in the darkness of fear. Naming death empowers us to face the reality of our sin. We quote God, "for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
Death will not be ignored.
Looking directly at death opens our eyes to morality. Only then does the truth and beauty of of the Immortal One come into focus. We see the one who is neither from dust, nor will ever return to dust yet allowed himself to be buried in the earth. He did not ignore death, he conquered it.
