From Ash Wednesday to Easter

This will be a short one, but I felt inspired to write this post after reading Dr. Huber's post about Ash Wednesday.

As a Presbyterian, Ash Wednesday is something that is recognized in "my" liturgical calendar.  When talking about Easter with someone, a common question that comes up is: "Which holiday do you like better, Christmas or Easter?"  To this day I still can't decide, however; the season of Lent that leads up to Easter is so important to me.  The pastor at my church did a sermon about how it is "unfair" to just skip to Easter without partaking in the 40 previous and important days.  Ash Wednesday marks the 40 day lead up to Jesus' resurrection.   Ash Wednesday is a moving service-- a service in which at the end ashes are pressed into your forehead while the words: "from ashes to ashes, dust to dust" are whispered.  I used to be embarrassed to walk around the street with ashes on my head, but now I realize that there is arguably no point in going to the service if I will just wipe away the ashes from my head when I leave.  Whether you celebrate Ash Wednesday religiously or not, I think it is a good reminder, like Dr. Huber touched on, to remember the suffering--  the violence, and injustice in the world. So I believe that no one should feel embarrassed to walk around with ashes on his or her head because whether onlookers are religious or not, we all need a reminder of the injustice in this world.

Religiously and personally, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of a journey- the journey to Easter.  Towards the end of the 40 day period, Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, which closes with Easter.