Ash Wednesday Morning

My Lent is off to a great start . . . or not

As has become my custom, I began Ash Wednesday flat on my face.

No, that is not from drinking too much on Fat Tuesday (although perhaps maybe I drank a little more than I should).  Some years ago as a new Anglican I first saw the practice of clerics beginning the liturgy of Good Friday prostrate, that is laying down flat on the floor face down, in penitence.

I immediately thought that a meet and right way to show physically what our attitude should be before God concerning our sin against Him, against the holy and righteous God — sin that culminated in the greatest crime in history, the crucifixion of the Son of God Himself.

So I made that my custom first thing in the morning on Good Friday and also on Ash Wednesday.  I have found that my attitude toward my sin follows my body; prostrating myself assists my penitence.  And so I did again this morning along with prayers.  A good start to Lent if I may say so.

Then . . . a few minutes later, my clumsiness combined with a boobytrap coffee maker to spill not a little amount of coffee grounds in my kitchen, both on the counter and the floor.  Whereupon I immediately took the Lord’s name in vain, and that more than once.

Yes, when I confess I am one of those “miserable sinners”, I’m not just making it up or being trad and liturgically correct.

So just a few minutes after I am penitently praying while piously prostrate on the floor, I am taking the Lord’s name in vain.  So not such a good start to Lent after all.

But it is a reminder that I really do need to be penitent.  It is also a reminder that no one gets out of Lent alive . . . unless Jesus forgives them and gives them life.

But I am jumping ahead to Good Friday and Easter.  Let’s have a penitent Lent first.  I need it.