LENT: Imposing Ashes on Each Other

After posting this on my Facebook page and getting a positive response, I thought I should share it here too. It's too late for this year, but it's never too late to plan ahead.

I go to a small church. At our Ash Wednesday service last night the pastor and his son imposed the ashes. Pastor did the adults and his son did the kids (and mine). It made me wonder about how cool it would be to impose ashes on each other. The message is the same, but what an amazing community building moment. I think we need more of those. I think we need more moments standing in front of each other and being reminded that we are all sinners, that we all fall short of the glory of God and, quite frankly, each other, and that Jesus died for each of us. We spend so much time trying to fit in, appear cool, appear good, appear on top, appear strong, appear smart, and appear like we've got it all. Maybe it's a good idea that once a year we stand before each other and be reminded, "From dust you came, to dust you will return."