Ash Wednesday Carnival of Perspectives

When I moved to San Antonio, I knew nothing of Lent. I was brought up Baptist, and we didn't do Lent. I knew it was something that Catholics did and that it involved giving something up for a period of time. But that's all I knew.

My first Ash Wednesday came shortly after we arrived in town. I saw someone with a smudge on her forehead.

"Excuse me," I said, "But you have something on your forehead."

She smiled and said, "It's ashes."

I thought that was an odd answer. So I said, "Well, ashes or dirt or whatever. I was just letting you know."

Things have changed over the last 20 years, and now my Baptist church observes the season of Lent along with most of Christendom. It is a season of mourning, a season of remembering our weak humanity, and a season of entering the desert with Jesus for 40 where we hope to hear from the Spirit of God. A number of writers associated with The High Calling over the years have posted Ash Wednesday or Lenten essays. I hope their writing blesses you.

Dirty Foreheads, Right Minds by Tod Bolsinger

Ash Wednesday conveys a clear message: the starting point for all spiritual progress, all spiritual attention, all spiritual discipline, is in the acknowledgement of our own genuine humanity and receiving God’s generous mercy.

A Litany of Penitence by Al Hsu

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven. Have mercy on us, Lord.

Is Lent a Dead Tradition? by Gina Conroy

Ash Wednesday was always a way I could curb the things that had gotten out of control in my life, and I always seemed to be more successful when I did it for Jesus.