Prayer

Ponderings of Grace Archives

Ponderings of Grace - Ash Wednesday

 

 

ASH WEDNESDAY

 

The word “Lent” comes from the Old English word “lencten” and means “springtime,” the   season we love because of the beauty of new growth.   On this Ash Wednesday, as we reflect on Lent as the Church’s springtime, we might ask ourselves— to what challenge for growth is our loving God inviting each of us:

....personally
....in our families 
....in our ministry
....in our Christian Growth Groups
....in our local communities 
....in our Congregation as a whole?

 

I think John O’Donohue captures this moment of new growth in the opening lines of his poem “For a New Beginning” in To Bless the Space Between Us :

 

In out-of-the way places of the heart,

Where your thoughts never think to wander

This beginning has been quietly forming,
              Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

 

                                                           --Sheila Holly, SSJ