Today, Christians begin the season of Lent with the celebration (is celebration the right word) of Ash Wednesday. This season of the church year is designed as one of repentance where we reflect on why we needed Jesus to go to the cross for us.
This week on SAP we discussed taking advantage of seasons like Advent and Lent to prepare us for Christmas and Easter. One of the most common tools that Christians use for preparation is a devotional series. This year, I wrote a series for Lutheran Hour Ministries that was supposed to take an edgier or alternative look at the Lenten season.
Wanting to push things beyond the standard print medium, we have posted the devotions online in a blog style site with some social networking features in the background. This site will, come Easter, roll over into the Fishbowl. You can check them out at writingsfromthewilderness.com.
"(is celebration the right word?)"
I think it is. I came to that conclusion because the word I tried using instead of "happy" for Ash Wednesday (i.e. "happy Ash Wednesday,") was "blessed."
It sounds more prim and proper to say "blessed". I'm sure that somebody would probably recoil from my saying "happy Ash Wednesday" to them, or "happy smudge day," but when you look at what God is telling us in that smudge - it's something to be happy about. We're dead, but we're buried with Christ. That's something to celebrate and be happy about.
Looking forward to the devotional series. The NRSV even translates (to my dismay some of the time) "blessed" as "happy." Maybe there's something to that.
Blessings and a "happy" Lent to you. :-)
in Christ,
jW