LENT IN BLACK & WHITE
Ash Wednesday emphasizes a dual encounter: we confront our mortality and confess our sin before God within the community of faith. The use of ashes as a sign of mortality and repentance has a long history in Jewish and Christian worship, and the Imposition of Ashes can be a powerful nonverbal and experiential way of participating in the call to repentance and reconciliation. This practice is the historic focus of the Ash Wednesday observance and gave the day its name. It is traditional to save the palm branches from the previous Passion/Palm Sunday service and burn them ahead of time to produce the ashes for this service.
ASH WEDNESDAY 2024 UPDATE: After two years away from this project and some false starts during the pandemic, I am excited to begin again in 2024. As we start this year, I’m leaving up all the previous year’s posts simply to keep in mind what’s gone before. While the goal is always to post pics each day of Lent, this year, I’ve vowed to post every day while also giving myself grace if, for some reason, it does not happen. Sundays will feature a color photo since every Sunday is like a mini-Easter (which is why we do not count Sundays in the 40 days of Lent) as a reminder that Easter is coming. These are posted to my Instagram account and archived here. Click on any picture to see the whole image along with the caption.
…[G]iven that Lent is a season wherein we are invited to take a long, hard look at what is going on in our lives with respect to our faithfulness to be a disciple of Christ, the question begs surrounding are we providing enough space to get the full picture of…
Read More…[W]hat transformations might be possible in our lives if we approached everything we eat with the intentionality that so many Christians put into their food selections on Fridays during this sacred season…and what is stopping us…
Read More…[W]hen looking at a week of daily IV treatments - all the same dose - it can be just remarkable how much healing can come…while the Lenten journey to Easter, with its daily intentionalities, can sometimes seem tedious or never-ending, the promise is…
Read More…[A]fter only a day, it is noticeable how much cleaner the tank is when there is a more robust filtration system at work…while we are called to tend our discipleship journey throughout the year, Lent is a time where…
Read More…[W]e are invited to take a good look at everything that makes up our lives and gives us the chance to rid ourselves of those
Read More…[I]t’s obvious they need to be put where they belong in order to be charged…Lent is a season where we are invited back to where we belong - finding…
Read MoreOne thing that many of us learned throughout 2020 was the importance of lighting when it comes to video production or even just attending online meetings with a simple webcam…when something is properly…
Read MoreThe vent hood for a household stovetop can be looked at as in direct conflict with the season of Lent…the vent hood helps the various…
Read More…[T]hrough the season of Lent we are invited to actively engage in canceling the noise that bombards our every day so that,,,
Read More{A]s I approached the altar, I confronted one of the essential realities of the Lenten season - the reality of the gift of these 40 days to intentionally prepare for the empty tomb - and accepting…
Read More[H]earing her soft, sweet little girl voice sing those words while pointing them out to herself and her daddy gave me yet another example of encountering God through observing the Lenten discipline of gathering for worship…
Read MoreContext is everything…to take proper measure of the cereal in the bowl, one must know the one for…
Read More…Lent is a sacred space in which we get to feast on God’s grace, being renewed by taking time to recall how gracious God has been to us even when we have not always made room to realize or recognize, much less respond to, said grace…
Read More…The smell of a church facility that has just had all the carpets and pews steam-cleaned is simply amazing…there is a freshness in the air that…
Read More…[I]n much the same way, Lent is a season that allows us to have an interruption in our routine - hopefully an interruption that gets our attention much in the same way as a non-card-reading gas pump…
Read More…[T]hrough the season of Lent, we discover the joy of having a season set aside to remind us not only does Christ hold our lives together (like the paperclip image from last week) but that…
Read More…What is so wonderful about the season of Lent is that we are invited not to cleanse ourselves, but to make room for God to cleanse us through…
Read More…[E]ven something relatively simple as a countertop kitchen appliance can take quite awhile to figure out, leaving you lost as you seek to figure out something simple as…
Read More…[W]ith a quick glance, the user can know simple yet crucial information as they work through their day…Lent pushes...
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