Ashes to Ashes

Today is Ash Wednesday, a day of repentance and remembrance of our own mortality; and the first day of Lent.  Tonight Altamont First UMC will be holding a sacramental Ash Wednesday service including imposition of ashes, the sacrament of Holy Communion, and an invitation to Lenten discipline.

But before that, we will have a funeral for Iolene.  A funeral on Ash Wednesday is a powerful reminder of just how fragile life really is.

And my hope is that it will also be a powerful reminder of God's steadfast presence in our lives, God's comfort in our times of grief and loss, and that in the midst of pain there is hope and Gospel.

Revelation 21 (NRSV) reads, in part:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

"See, the home of God is among mortals.

He will dwell with them as their God;

they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them;

he will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more;

mourning and crying and pain will be no more,

for the first things have passed away."

In the midst of it all, God is with us, wiping our tears and dwelling among us.

Repent, and believe the good news.