Wednesday, March 9, was Ash Wednesday, and it was amazing.
It started with our “First-ever Ash Wednesday Service for Children and Families.” This was held in the sanctuary at 5:15 and was built around Jesus’ teaching: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Fifty-one participants of all ages trooped down the aisle carrying sheep puppets. Mark Scott led us in singing the Taize song “Jesus the Good Shepherd.” Two teen crucifers “protected” the sheep from some very vicious wolf marionettes.
We entered a “sheepfold” in the crossing. Beth Fultz and I explained the meaning of Ash Wednesday, saying that the mark of the cross meant that “we belong to Jesus.” The wolves asked if they, too, could be Jesus’ sheep, and so they were invited in as well, since Jesus says, “I have other sheep who are not of this sheepfold.” We then applied the ashes and celebrated the Lord’s Supper with all present.
At 7:00 we held our regular Ash Wednesday service in the transept. It was also well-attended. The choir led us in singing the Taize song “Ubi Caritas,” a very moving piece that says (in Latin, if you’re bold enough to sing it!) “Where there is charity and love, there is God.” This year the flow of the service was different: participants moved directly from the application of the ashes to the Lord’s Supper. There was something powerful in hearing first, “You are dust, and to dust shall you return,” and then, “The body of Christ, for you…the blood of Christ, for you,” a movement from our humility before God to God’s exaltation of us through Christ.
But it’s what happened in between the two services that stood out especially. Following the 5:15 service, joyful kids bounded around the campus; sheep chased wolf marionettes and parents congregated talking and laughing. Then we all went in to the Ash Wednesday supper prepared by our Fellowship Committee, led by Faith Mallory. What a great meal! But more than that, what a great crowd! There were over a hundred there, people of all ages, as the folks who attended the children’s service broke bread with those about to attend the more formal service.
One of the challenges facing churches these days is finding ways that the established, lifelong members and the newer members can connect to one another. I’ve been in churches where the sheep in the one fold didn’t really interact with the other. Who knows why: maybe one group views the other group as wolves, or maybe there’s some natural tendency of sheep to stay in the familiar sheepfold and not venture into the unknown. But that night, at the fellowship dinner, we had a sheep mixer, and everybody enjoyed it.