{"id":1737,"date":"2012-03-03T07:22:56","date_gmt":"2012-03-03T07:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/?p=1737"},"modified":"2012-03-03T07:22:56","modified_gmt":"2012-03-03T07:22:56","slug":"ash_wednesday_to_go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/?p=1737","title":{"rendered":"Ash Wednesday… to go"},"content":{"rendered":"

A colleague of mine, Fr. Robert Hendrickson, writes in his blog, The Curate’s Desk<\/a>, about the recent phenomena of “Ashes-to-Go” that seems to have caught on in our Church. I think he is correct in asserting that this type of quick and temporary experience does not actually allow people to experience the power behind the form, or the act of having ashes placed on one’s forehead. The power comes from the fullness of the RIte, from the intentional, persistent, and slow working within us by the Holy Spirit as we give ourselves to the effort.  Without such intention and effort, having ashes placed on one’s forehead can be simply an activity, like putting on blush, although for a presumably understood (but not likely so) different purpose.  Here are a few paragraphs from his blog… a full read is well worth it!<\/p>\n

\n

“I worry that we are sharing only the mark of our separation from God
\nrather than our conviction that God dwells ever with us and that this
\nvery dust that we are may be hallowed, sanctified, blessed, and even
\nassumed. This reconciliation of ourselves to God brings with it the
\nwelcome to live in the fullness of the Christian life. We are given the
\nhope that “being reconciled with one another,” we may “come to the
\nbanquet of that most heavenly Food” and receive all of the benefits of
\nChrist’s Passion and Resurrection. Ash Wednesday is not about our sins
\nalone but about our life in and with the Triune God who calls us into
\ntrue life – a life free of the mark of death.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"WASHINGTON,<\/a><\/p>\n

@daylife<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“This simply cannot be communicated in a drive-by encounter. The sign
\nof death is decisively stripped away in the Sacrament – it is that
\nencounter with the Christ made known in the Body at the Altar and in the
\nChurch that is the point of Lent as we are brought into Communion and
\ncommunity.<\/p>\n

“My worry about Ashes-to-Go is that it reinforces the privatized
\nspirituality that plagues much of the Church. “I” do not get ashes. “We”
\nget ashes so that we may know ourselves, as a Body, to be marked for a
\nmoment but saved, together, forever…<\/p>\n

“On the plus side, I think it is absolutely vital for the Church to
\nfind ways to engage the changing world. This may be one such way – yet I
\ncannot quite get comfortable with it. I am increasingly leery of the
\nChurch’s desire to find ways to make the work of the Christian life
\neasier or faster – especially as it pertains to this most sombre and
\nneedful of seasons.<\/p>\n

“My hope though is that Ashes-to-Go really can become an entry point
\nand that those who receive these ashes will be drawn to the Church in a
\nfuller and deeper way. Perhaps this brief encounter can catalyze some
\nmovement of the Spirit that calls the recipients to newness of life. I
\nlook forward to talking with my friends about their experience of the
\nday and pray that their efforts have shared something of the fullness of
\nthe Christian life.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A colleague of mine, Fr. Robert Hendrickson, writes in his blog, The Curate’s Desk, about the recent phenomena of “Ashes-to-Go” that seems to have caught on in our Church. I think he is correct in asserting that this type of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,27,9,24,26,6,20,10,12,13,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anglican","category-christianity","category-faith","category-generations","category-imagodei","category-politicsculture","category-post-modern","category-quotes","category-the-episcopal-church","category-theology","category-thoughts-from-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hypersync.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}