Dust to Dust
Ash Wednesday is not a day for the faint-hearted or for those who live removed from reality.

For years, I was tremendously comforted by the thought that God knew me, loved me, and accepted me.

But I did not give equal attention to the other side of the equation - the need to face my darker nature, name it, and seek forgiveness.

I didn?t realize how naive, even arrogant, I was being.

One Ash Wednesday, as I knelt in church, I saw how I?d been fooling myself. It was not a blinding light experience; I did not fall weeping before the priest.

But I did connect the words of confession and penitence with the reality of my life, and I hope I will never be the same again.

Now I approach the Ash Wednesday Liturgy with something like anticipation. It is oddly comforting to confess my sins and ask for strength to change.

by The Rev. Margaret Jones
--from the Mar. 1, 2006 "Signposts: Daily Devotions"

As people of faith, we are continually looking for ways to live our faith with others. We know we can volunteer for soup kitchens, clothes closets, and Habitat houses. But these are occasional. What about day-to-day?

We experience many inter and intra-personal encounters every day and these moments of interaction offer the most readily available place to live our faith.

These moments, whether fleeting exchanges with strangers or enduring ones with our families and friends, are opportunities to either bless or curse. ...

by Jerry L. Harber, D. Min.

I watched the first episode of The Book of Daniel, and I liked seeing a character on TV trying to talk with Jesus about his troubles. That doesn't happen on Desperate Housewives.

But Jesus was silenced on NBC in late January. And it was the good religious types who did it. (Again.) ...

... So sex, drugs, murder, betrayal, wickedness, and dysfunction remain. But Jesus has been censored off the TV screen.

What was everyone so upset about? ...

by Lowell Grisham