Debert Baptist Church
1273 Plains Road B0M 1G0 Debert, NS, Canada

Ash Wednesday (photo compliments of Ahna Ziegler on the website Unsplash.com Today is Ash Wednesday and it is the beginning of the season we call Lent, the 6 weeks leading up to Easter when we celebrate Jesus resurrection from death. People may celebrate Ash Wednesday by attending services where they will receive a smudge of ashes on their forehead in the shape of a cross. As the ashes are applied, we are reminded that we came from dust and to dust we will return. Others don’...t have ashes smudged onto their heads but honor God in recognizing the day as important in it’s meaning that our lives are but a few days on this earth and that it is important that we seek God during them and turn from our sin. The Bible reminds us that ashes are a sign of sorrow for our sin and of turning to God. But ashes don’t change anything. Let’s take the rest of this day and those following it to say No to the practices which steal our lives away and keep us from God and instead say Yes to space and time for Him, for the faith He seeks to build in us, and the experience of his love shown to us and in us. Although there is nothing wrong with a ceremony, the Bible teaches us that God desires mercy, not sacrifice (Hosea 6:6) and Denise Loock reminds us that Jesus wants us to get our hearts involved, tangled up with other people’s lives, so the word sacrifice drops out of our vocabulary, so that all we know is the passion to love others as he loves us. That is what turning away from me and my desires and turning toward God looks like much more than a cross of ashes. See more