Lent Begins With Ashes

Lent begins with ashes.

Lent begins with an admission of finitude, from dust to dust.

Lent begins, for me as a pastor, as a chaplain—with me looking my students and co-workers and friends in the eyes

And reminding them that they will die, but also that they are held in life and in death.

This year, Lent ends with a pandemic.

The death we reminded ourselves of weeks ago seems ever present this Lent.

I can still feel the ashes on my thumb—the foreheads of those I love pressed against it.

From dust to dust, ash to ash.

Lent ends with a pandemic, but also with the promise of resurrection.

From cradle to grave we are held.