Shepherd's Heart 2/13/26
Christmas feels like it was yesterday, and yet, Ash Wednesday is only five days away. The trees and lights were just packed away (some are still up in my house!) and already we are being invited into a different season- quieter, deeper, more honest. Somehow...someway... we are already stepping into Lent.
If you're anything like me, Ash Wednesday might be unfamiliar or even a little uncomfortable. I have to confess, I don't think I attended an Ash Wednesday service until I started working at Good Shepherd. Even though I grew up here and was confirmed here, Ash Wednesday was a mystery to me for a long time. But over the last few years I have grown to have a great appreciation for the liturgical seasons and the invitation we receive during Lent to confront the world's great darkness while holding fast to the light of the Christ.
Ash Wednesday brings us face to face with uncomfortable truth. The truth that we are finite. The truth that we are fragile. The truth that we cannot save ourselves. We live in a world that constantly tells us to work harder, do better, curate the best image, and hold everything together. But striving for perfection only adds to the burden of sin. Ash Wednesday gently, and honestly, reminds us that we are not as good as we think we are. We are, in fact, only dust. And yet, we are dust deeply loved by God.
Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday, is not a season of spiritual gloom. It is a season of intentional return. There is vulnerability in walking forward to receive ashes. It is humbling to hear the words, "you are dust, and to dust you shall return." This is not a bright and shiny worship service in the liturgical calendar, but it is an intentional moment for our walk with Christ. These words are not meant to shame us. They are meant to ground us in the reality that we are sinners, that we have turned away from God, and still he claims us as his own. Lent is forty days of confronting this reality and reorienting our hearts toward the cross and the empty tomb. If Christmas announces that God is with us, Lent invites us to ask: Will we choose to walk with Him?
In this season, we walk with Him through self-examination. Through repentance. Through reflecting on the Way of Jesus. Through prayer. Through fasting, not as punishment, but as practice. We create space in our lives so that we become more aware of our dependence on Christ. We let go of small comforts so that we cling more tightly to eternal hope.
This is why Ash Wednesday matters. It is a liturgical invitation to return to our Savior.
This coming Wednesday, we will corporately confront the reality of sin. We will gather. We will confess. We will receive ashes. We will consider our mortality. We will remember the One who formed us from dust, entered our dust, carried our sin, and has overcome death. The cross traced on our foreheads is not only a reminder of frailty. It is a sign of our redemption.
If you have never attended an Ash Wednesday service before, you are not alone. We have so many in our church with distinct faith backgrounds- some who have cherished Ash Wednesday their whole lives and others who haven't had the chance yet. Whatever your story, I want to invite you to join us in this special worship service next week. There is something powerful about beginning Lent together. There is something steadying about standing side by side, acknowledging our humanity and need for grace. There is something reassuring in the proclamation that death is real but we belong to Christ.
On February 18, we will gather to begin this holy season. Whether you have observed Lent for decades or have never stepped into an Ash Wednesday service before, I invite you to join us. Whether you find yourself curious, weary, or hopeful... come. Christ will meet you in whatever you are carrying. Our services for Ash Wednesday are at 12:30pm and 6pm.
Ash Wednesday reminds us that life is short, but God's mercy is not. It reminds us that we are dust, but dust marked by the cross. As we begin the slow journey toward Easter, we do so trusting that the One who calls us to repentance is the same One who calls us beloved.
Join us on Wednesday and let's begin the journey to the cross together.
Pastor Elisabeth
If you're anything like me, Ash Wednesday might be unfamiliar or even a little uncomfortable. I have to confess, I don't think I attended an Ash Wednesday service until I started working at Good Shepherd. Even though I grew up here and was confirmed here, Ash Wednesday was a mystery to me for a long time. But over the last few years I have grown to have a great appreciation for the liturgical seasons and the invitation we receive during Lent to confront the world's great darkness while holding fast to the light of the Christ.
Ash Wednesday brings us face to face with uncomfortable truth. The truth that we are finite. The truth that we are fragile. The truth that we cannot save ourselves. We live in a world that constantly tells us to work harder, do better, curate the best image, and hold everything together. But striving for perfection only adds to the burden of sin. Ash Wednesday gently, and honestly, reminds us that we are not as good as we think we are. We are, in fact, only dust. And yet, we are dust deeply loved by God.
Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday, is not a season of spiritual gloom. It is a season of intentional return. There is vulnerability in walking forward to receive ashes. It is humbling to hear the words, "you are dust, and to dust you shall return." This is not a bright and shiny worship service in the liturgical calendar, but it is an intentional moment for our walk with Christ. These words are not meant to shame us. They are meant to ground us in the reality that we are sinners, that we have turned away from God, and still he claims us as his own. Lent is forty days of confronting this reality and reorienting our hearts toward the cross and the empty tomb. If Christmas announces that God is with us, Lent invites us to ask: Will we choose to walk with Him?
In this season, we walk with Him through self-examination. Through repentance. Through reflecting on the Way of Jesus. Through prayer. Through fasting, not as punishment, but as practice. We create space in our lives so that we become more aware of our dependence on Christ. We let go of small comforts so that we cling more tightly to eternal hope.
This is why Ash Wednesday matters. It is a liturgical invitation to return to our Savior.
This coming Wednesday, we will corporately confront the reality of sin. We will gather. We will confess. We will receive ashes. We will consider our mortality. We will remember the One who formed us from dust, entered our dust, carried our sin, and has overcome death. The cross traced on our foreheads is not only a reminder of frailty. It is a sign of our redemption.
If you have never attended an Ash Wednesday service before, you are not alone. We have so many in our church with distinct faith backgrounds- some who have cherished Ash Wednesday their whole lives and others who haven't had the chance yet. Whatever your story, I want to invite you to join us in this special worship service next week. There is something powerful about beginning Lent together. There is something steadying about standing side by side, acknowledging our humanity and need for grace. There is something reassuring in the proclamation that death is real but we belong to Christ.
On February 18, we will gather to begin this holy season. Whether you have observed Lent for decades or have never stepped into an Ash Wednesday service before, I invite you to join us. Whether you find yourself curious, weary, or hopeful... come. Christ will meet you in whatever you are carrying. Our services for Ash Wednesday are at 12:30pm and 6pm.
Ash Wednesday reminds us that life is short, but God's mercy is not. It reminds us that we are dust, but dust marked by the cross. As we begin the slow journey toward Easter, we do so trusting that the One who calls us to repentance is the same One who calls us beloved.
Join us on Wednesday and let's begin the journey to the cross together.
Pastor Elisabeth