Ash Wednesday

Today I went to the Ash Wednesday service at my church. I wasn't raised in a liturgical church and this was my first celebration of the day. A poem included in the program summarizes well the reason for Lent and how it should be observed. I've included it here:

Is this a Fast, to keep

The larder lean?

And clean

From fat of veals and sheep?

Is it to quit the dish

Of flesh, yet still

To fill

The platter high with fish?

Is it to fast an hour,

Or ragg'd to go,

Or show

A down-cast look and sour?

No: 'tis a Fast to dole

Thy sheaf of wheat

And meat

Unto the hungry soul,

It is to fast from strife

And old debate,

And hate;

To circumcise thy life.

To show a heart grief-rent;

To starve thy sin,

Not bin;

And that's to keep thy Lent.

~Robbert Herrick (1591-1674)

I love the purpose, thought and meaning behind church holidays and liturgical readings. They engage the mind as well as the heart. They pull from a vast history of spiritual writings and allow for a greater perspective on our faith than what we receive from contemporary works alone. The reminder that there are those who have taken this journey of faith before us guards our hearts against egocentrism and puts into proper perspective our position and influence in the grand scheme of things. And isn't viewing ourselves rightly (as sinners, saved by unmerited grace) one of the chief aims of Christianity? Thank you, Lenten season, for reminding me that it's not all about me. It's about my heart reaction to a God who loves me so much that He would degrade Himself by taking on the form of a man and be murdered by His own creation, all so that I would not have to spend eternity apart from Him.