ash wednesday, 2015

"ash wednesday 2015: with dirty hands"

mixed media collage (tissue paper, acrylic paint, gel medium, chalkboard paint)

10" x 8"

february, 2015

gregory a. milinovich

tonight in our ash wednesday service we will talk about how sometimes, although we begin a journey with a clean car, we sometimes end up with pepperidge farm goldfish scattered throughout every orifice in our minivan, even ones we didn't know existed. there will be several gummy snacks permanently embedded into the carpet, and every possible beverage will have spilled, even ones i didn't know we brought with us.

journeys just get messy.

that's part of the journey, isn't it?

on this journey of lent, which begins today in the somber awareness of ash and dust, we will not have any different experience. just like a family road trip, this journey will be marked by mishaps and messes. in fact, we start right there. we start right in the thick, sticky, powdery mess of it all. and we will either get stuck there, like some grape gummy snack, or we will roll up our sleeves, get our hands dirty (not just our foreheads!), and journey forward with determination, with expectation, with anticipation, and - most of all - with hope.

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