Ash Wednesday.

On last year's Ash Wednesday, I wrote a serious post on the meaning of Lent, and on sacrifice generally. As you can tell from the stock photo at left that I poached from the Net, the priest or bishop in charge marks members of the parish with ashes in the sign of the cross. Episcopalians and Catholics have this service every year, generally using ashes taken from the palms collected from the previous year's Palm Sunday service. We walk around all day with soot on our forehead, while our well-meaning friends from other denominations point out that our morning's shower was not 100% effective. It's not forbidden for other Christian denominations to do it, but most Protestant denominations don't celebrate with an Ash Wednesday service.

There is something to be said for sticking with what you know how to do. A few years ago, I noticed that Tommy, a Methodist friend of mine from days gone by, had a red mark on his forehead. "Tommy, what's with the red mark?", I asked. "Let me tell you, Dave", he offered. "The Pastor at our church decided to impose ashes on us for Ash Wednesday, just as a new experience. He'd done this to about half the congregation, and one of the guys up front said, "I'm burning!". I thought he was just moved by the sermon, but then I noticed my forehead was really hot, too. Well, since that church didn't have any Palm Sunday palm leafs to burn, the Pastor just burned whatever he had around, which, on that particular day, turned out to be treated lumber". Anybody want to guess what you get when you mix hardwood ashes with water? Rookies!