Ashes to ashes.

Imposition of ashes has always been part of my life: as a Roman Catholic child and youth, as an adult Methodist and currently as an orthodox Anglican. To me, ashes are always a reminder of death. At my age (60), many who are dear to me have "crossed over". I think of past Ash Wednesdays, of the family feeling of going to church to "do our duty", of priests who have made the sign of the cross on my forehead, of incense and chanting and prayer and kneeling before God, of Holy Days of Obligation, of meatless Fridays, of Lenten fasts.

Ashes are also an opportunity to wear my faith in public, which I have always enjoyed. When nuns and priests started wearing street clothes, I thought that they were chasing approachability at the cost of being a visible presence in the communities they touched. I know it must be hard to walk that line. But, I want visibility of the church on its terms, not on those of the world. I want people to know that I belong to Christ and to have them "deal with" whatever that means to them.