Ash Wednesday Services

“It is childbirth,But it is also resurrection.A body broken.Breath fractured.A long night.A sunrise.Breath returned.New life,And a love that won’t let go.”— Excerpt from “Light” by Rev. Sarah AreImage: “The Promise” by Lisle Gwynn Garrity | @sanctifiedart

“Consider those first few days after you’ve lost someone and the liminality between their death and funeral. There’s no closure yet, and mornings are reminders that the nightmare is real. It’s hard to imagine how you’ll face the day. … Again and again, the sun rises on a new day, often without embrace or acknowledgment….

“Friends, you’ve got mail.It’s an invitation to dust off your shoes,To go deeper,To trust that you’re worth it,To lose your keys and your faith,And then to find them both, along with your worth.You are invited.We are invited.Again and again and again.This invitation is for you.”— Excerpt from “Invited” by Rev. Sarah AreFrom the Again &…

“’A MAN WAS LYNCHED YESTERDAY’ These words were stitched onto a flag that flew outside the Manhattan headquarters of the NAACP between 1920 and 1938. When a Black person was lynched, the flag was raised the following day… You should understand that what happened to Jesus was a lynching. …Do not look away and do…

“Change, even when welcomed, means death. I once had the unenviable task of pastoring a church through dissolution. We realized that change would happen either with us or to us. We could die to some things so that we could live to others, or we could hold onto what is and die with it. Only…

Complete these sentences: I believe God is____. I believe Jesus is___. I believe the Spirit is___. I believe faith is___. | @sanctifiedart