Pastor Clayton ~ March

Last month, we began our journey into Lent being reminded on Ash Wednesday that, “you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Some of our students joined me the week before Ash Wednesday to prepare the ashes for that day. Then a week after preparing them, our students and teachers were the first ones Pastor Tim and I spoke that reminder to during chapel.

The ashes on our forehead are a reminder of not only our eventual, earthly death, but they are a physical reminder of our sin. Our gross, yucky, dirty sin. By now, you’ve washed those ashes off of your forehead, yet no matter how hard you scrub, you may still feel covered in the ashes of your sin. With King David, you may just be calling out to God to, “wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!”

As we continue through Lent this month, I want you to be reminded of what I shared with our students. The ashes are a reminder of our gross, disgusting, all-covering sin. Yet they are put in the shape of a cross to remind us of what God has done about them. That even though we cannot remove our sins from our flesh, God took on our flesh to remove our sins from us.

In a few weeks, we’ll once again be waving palm leaves in celebration. We’ll be shouting with joy, giving thanks to our God that took on our flesh, died in our place, rose once again, and has washed us clean of our sins. I hope you can join us for that celebration and all the ones after!