Ash Wednesday

This Ash Wednesday, mourning scours our hearts

The last two years have deepened our experience with grief. As we move into the season of Lent, a pastor and assistant professor asks what has been learned.

By Timothy Adkins-Jones Pastor and assistant professor

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Isaac Villegas: On Ash Wednesday, we remember our fragility once again

Though the pandemic has brought much change over the past year, Ash Wednesday still has a lot to teach us, says a pastor.

By Isaac Villegas Pastor and writer

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Dave Odom: Ash Wednesday instills a leadership discipline, even for a novice

Themes of confession and repentance connect across faith traditions and reinforce important traits for those in positions of authority, writes the executive director of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.

By David L. Odom Executive director, Leadership Education at Duke Divinity

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Melissa Musick Nussbaum: We are marked with what we are

Beneath the awkwardness of a sooty cross, smeared on the forehead, lies the deep wisdom that we are marked with what we are. We are marked with what we must become.

By Melissa Musick Nussbaum Writer

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Alaina Kleinbeck: Why haven't I seen ashes smeared on the steeple?

When we turn a blind eye to the misdeeds of our institutions, we deny our corporate fallibility and miss opportunities to practice the confession and reconciliation that frame our personal experiences with God.

By Alaina Kleinbeck Director, Thriving in Ministry Coordination Program

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Catherine A. Caimano: Ashes on the sidewalk

Jesus said nothing about ashes, but he did warn us about practicing our piety in public. An Episcopal priest explains why, even so, she'll be outside on Ash Wednesday offering ashes to passers-by.

By Catherine A. Caimano Free Range Priest

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Resources for Lent and Easter

We hope you find helpful these essays, sermons and stories for the Lenten and Easter seasons from Faith & Leadership.

Amy Butler: Strangers seeking ashes

Reminders of our failures are all around us every day. Why seek them out? Why do we all seem to need Ash Wednesday so much?

By Amy Butler Founder, Invested Faith

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George Mason: The astonishing hope in death

Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent invite us into radical noticing. It is in paying attention to what's dead around us that we can be surprised by the hope of resurrection, writes the senior pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church.

By George Mason Senior pastor

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Get a little soapy

By Lisa Nichols Hickman Associate pastor, Myers Park Presbyterian Church

On Ash Wednesday, Lisa Nichols Hickman learned how to make soap. It reminded her that the journey from soil to soul requires the naming of ashes and the claiming of oil.

Gospel in the dirt

By Beth Felker Jones Professor, Wheaton College

On Ash Wednesday, we can no longer hide the truth about ourselves: that we are God’s creatures, that we are broken, that the spotless and perfect life is a lie, writes Beth Felker Jones.