Diana Butler Bass’ column in The Cottage for today is well worth reading and pondering. This is how she begins:
We come to the most reflective, and most discomforting, time of the Christian calendar: Lent.
This is the hard season. A time of repentance and repair.
The Ash Wednesday passage from the Hebrew scriptures is from Isaiah. Our Jewish friends read this same text for Yom Kippur, their holy day of repentance. The prophet’s vision of true piety is shared by Jews and Christians — and is central to faithful living.
Isaiah 58:1-12
Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.. . .
She provides a powerful photograph and honestly shares her own feelings.
PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA: Rev. John Shaver (right) looks on while visiting the remains of Community United Methodist Church, where he is pastor, as wildfires cause damage and loss through Los Angeles County on January 10, 2025. From Getty Images.
On this Ash Wednesday, my heart is broken and every shred of hope I once had is gone.
I’m not well. My soul is sick. I see nothing but greed, destruction, lying, inhumanity, and evil all around.
If anyone tells me that I came from ash and will return to it, I may well laugh in their face. Or cry and never stop. I just hope I don’t hit the priest. Because — read the room, people — we’re standing in ash up to our knees.
This is a brutal Ash Wednesday.
And what are our own feelings and what is our response?