Ash Wednesday Joy

Lent begins in five days.  I hope you will all join us for our pancake feast on Tuesday and our service on Wedneday.  Ash Wednesday is one of my favorite days of the year.  I find it so reassuring to be reminded that I am dust, but I am God’s dust, and as such am beloved.  For the last few years, I have revisited the following poem from Layli Longsoldier that seems to capture the grief and hope and Joy of the season.  Our soup and study Lenten program this year, presented by Mary Lasher and Rev. Jackie Matisse, is entitled “Joy on the Way to the Cross” and speaks of some of these same things.  Happiness is fleeting; Joy endures.