The Journey to the Cross 2017, Day 1

I can't believe it is already Ash Wednesday.  My history was not immersed in the commemoration of Lent.  

Several weeks ago I started reviewing and editing my blog entries from 2010 with the intention of turning them into a book.  That is obviously not going to happen in time for this year, so I have decided to just repost them, with some edits along the way.   

In 2010 (soon after starting a blog) I purposed to be intentional about a Lenten study.  What I hadn’t planned in advance was adding the discipline of writing, but it was an incredible blessing and the commitment to doing that became the catalyst for a very special spiritual journey in that season of 2010….  

That first year I counted back 40 actual days; then learned late in the process that the 6 Sundays leading up to Easter are not included in Lent, and that they are considered “mini-resurrection celebrations” along the journey to Resurrection, so I have corrected that in these entries by adjusting the countdown to properly reflect the actual timeline of Lent.   I had never observed Lent before 2010 – but it was a wonderful journey of reflection, preparation and anticipation for the glorious day I pressed toward:  Resurrection!  We know the end of the story – but reliving the trek toward it is indeed an incredible journey.  Please join me by making this journey your own!

In my original blog entries I included a touch of daily humor, and have decided to leave that part in as well…and so we begin….

Wednesday, Day 1:  Ash Wednesday

Tuesday (yesterday) was what is commonly known in Catholic circles as ‘Fat Tuesday’.  Fat Tuesday is synonymous with the celebration of Mardi Gras, which marks the culmination of the carnival season leading up to the austerity of Lent.  Sort of a ‘have all your fun’ now, then be good for the next 40 days and 6 ‘mini-Easters’ leading up to the grandest event defining Christianity:  the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

During the years I lived in Montesano, Washington, I attended the Episcopal church’s Shrove Tuesday pancake luncheon event on ‘Fat Tuesday’ a few times, a celebration that was totally new to me. 

None of that was on my radar growing up.  The only thing I knew about Lent was that my Catholic friend in high school gave up chocolate chip cookies and lost 20 pounds….  The minimal amount I understood about Lent was that it was a time to give up something important to you as self-sacrifice /self-discipline for the 40 days preceding Easter.  (It was not until 2010 that I learned the 40 days did not include Sundays.)

There was no television in our home when I was growing up, so we were not immersed in news from around the country, and it was many years before I would even learn about the significance of Ash Wednesday.  That came after I started attending a Presbyterian Church.  I loved the celebration of Ash Wednesday:  burning the palms that had been waved on Palm Sunday the prior year, having the ash mixed with anointing oil finger-painted by the pastor on my brow in the shape of the cross…submitting to a tender act of penitence and remembrance that focused on the coming journey that would lead us – and Jesus – to Passover and Resurrection (the day of our Easter celebration).  

Once I had experienced that, it became an annual time of introspection and preparation leading first to the cross – and then, joyfully, to the resurrection of Jesus early on Easter morning.

I am immersing myself in Jesus’ ministry for the first period of my ‘40 days’ of preparation for his death on the cross . . . then as the time of the revisiting of the event gets close, I will follow his daily journey through reading sequentially what the Bible discloses for those final days as Jesus completed his time on earth as ‘fully God, fully human.’

I chose the book of Matthew as my primary focus, though I will add in other passages for the final countdown in the timeline. 

Lord, prepare our hearts to receive all that You have in mind for us.  Help us glean wisdom and understanding, and a closer relationship with you during this process of being intentional about walking with you through remembering the time you spent walking on earth, recalling what you came to teach, and exploring what you have in these next 40-plus days for us to learn. 

Psalm 139:23 & 24 ESV

Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Humor for today:
When my youngest granddaughter was 3, we stopped for a visit and my daughter told me a cute real-life story about her. 

Bryn knows that Jesus lives in her heart, and earlier that week she turned her face toward her heart and said, “Hi, Jesus.”

Her Mommy said, “And what does Jesus say to you?”

And Bryn, without missing a beat, said in her deepest mimic-male voice, “Hi Bryn.”