Ash Wednesday

Today, I decided to attend an Ash Wednesday service at a local Lutheran church. The pastor is one of our health care leaders, so I decided to go see what this somber day is all about. It's all part of my spiritual exploration this year. The program began with "Tonight in Worship, we hear a painful promise: Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Ash on our face forces us to face our mortality and sin, the limits of our reality. The ash, however, comes in the shape of the cross, tracing also our baptismal identity in the one who took on our shape and our shame to bring us, at last, to glory with God."

I compared Ash Wednesday to Yom Kippur, a day of atonement.

The service evoked a few thoughts.
1) I am uncomfortable with the assumption that we are all born sinners -- at least that's what I thought I heard them saying. I don't believe this is a tenet of Judaism. It's important to acknowledge and repent for your sins, but I don't believe we are all inherently bad. Instead I prefer to believe in every person's good will.
2) I was surprised to see the words "O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise" in one of the psalms they sang. I recognize this prayer in Hebrew "Adonai, sifo-tai tif tach, ufi yagid tehilatechah." I believe this is the opening prayer to the Amidah. Nice to see some parallels.
3) I was uncomfortable when they referred to the "hypocrites that pray in synagogue." Not sure what that means, I don't want to assume they were calling all Jews hypocrites. I am meeting with the pastor in the morning though, so maybe I'll inquire.
4) During the 'Greeting of Peace,' suddenly the woman in front of me turned around to shake my hand and said, "May peace be with you." I smiled and replied timidly, "You too." ! I believe the proper response here is, "And also with you." To the second person that said this to me I smiled and nodded. Whoops.
5) Pastor Brian's sermon focused on the concept of "from dust you come and to dust you shall return." It's an intriguing concept; after all, the only thing we know for sure is that one day we will die. But I certainly don't think of this often. Death, for me, is a "head concept" -- something I know but don't really understand. For others, Pastor Brian remarked, death may seem like a welcome reprieve from the difficulties they face here on earth. I appreciated taking an evening to remember that I am mortal and to step back and consider how I live my life each day.
The end.