Facing Who We Are
This past weekend I reread a book by Barbara Brown Taylor called Speaking of Sin, The Lost Language of Salvation. I urge you to read it this Lent. It is brilliant and profound. Taylor believes that sin is not a list of specifics; it is different for everyone. The trick is to identify sin for yourself, to really know yourself. To do this, she says, look for the experience that makes part of you die. ...

Ash Wednesday is the gateway to Lent. We have forty precious days to open ourselves up most particularly to God, to examine ourselves in the presence of one who created us, knows us, and loves us. We have forty days to face ourselves and learn to not be afraid of our sinfulness. We ARE dust, and to dust we shall return, but with God’s grace we can learn to live this life more fully, embracing our sinfulness, allowing God to transform us.

May God grant us: the wisdom to know ourselves; the courage to admit our sins; and the grace to receive God’s never-failing mercy and forgiveness. Amen.

--The Rev. Margaret W. Jones
from “Ash Wednesday - A Wake-up Call”

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