Lent, Day 1

Sojourn's Ash Wednesday service is one of my favorite church gatherings of the year, even though I always get asked, "What's that black stuff on your forehead?" about fifty times during the day.

I love the solemnity, the emphasis on repentance and renewal, and the anticipation that accompany Lent in general and Ash Wednesday in particular. I always think it'll be a restful, contemplative day full of opportunities to meditate quietly on the cross, start my Lenten fast (whatever it is from year to year) -- basically that it'll be a perfect little monastic day with real life waiting until later to intrude.

Didn't happen. Not close. It was a day full of conflict (and, praise God, real Gospel reconciliation), anxiety, busyness, and all sorts of unexpected hiccups. And that was God's grace to me too.

Welcome back to blogging. Maybe over Lent we'll get into why I didn't blog for several months? We'll see.