Ashes & Soot

Self-Portrait, Steven Spazuk soot-artist

  

Lord of the winds, I cry to thee.

I that am dust,
And blown about by every gust
I fly to thee.

Lord of the waters, unto thee I call.
I that am weed upon the waters borne,
And by the waters torn,
Tossed by the waters, at thy feet I fall.
~Mary Coleridge

Have mercy on me, O God...
~Psalm 51:1a

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday and we had a pancake dinner complete with a (rather pitiful) King Cake. King Cakes are not so very plentiful around North Carolina, so we had to suffice with small vanilla cake decorated with green, purple, and yellow icing. For the baby, we used a quarter. Ah, well. Maybe next year I'll have the time to make a King Cake myself!

Tonight some friends and I went to the Ash Wednesday service at a local Episcopal church. I suppose I've been going to this service for the past five years or so. As always, it was very meaningful..... a great way to move myself into Lent. 

Here's a video of an artist I came across a week or so ago - Steven Spazuk, a soot-artist. I thought highlighting his work would be quite appropriate on Ash Wednesday. :-) Two of his pieces are shown above. His portraits are amazing.

Finally, during the communion portion of tonight's service, this "acclamation" caught my attention and is worthy of meditating on today:

Christ has died,
Christ is risen,
Christ will come again. 
Simple. True.

I'll close with this from the book of Sirach:

In all you do, remember the end of your life, and then you will never sin. (7:36)

Ash Wednesday is the day for being reminded of and contemplating our mortality.