Ash Wednesday -- Lent Begins

At our Ash Wednesday Service we read this blessing.

“Rend Your Heart,” a Blessing for Ash Wednesday by Jan Richardson

To receive this blessing,

all you have to do

is let your heart break.

Let it crack open.

Let it fall apart

so that you can see

its secret chambers,

the hidden spaces

where you have hesitated

to go.
Your entire life

is here, inscribed whole

upon your heart’s walls:

every path taken

or left behind,

every face you turned toward

or turned away,

every word spoken in love

or in rage,

every line of your life

you would prefer to leave

in shadow,

every story that shimmers

with treasures known

and those you have yet

to find.
It could take you days

to wander these rooms.

Forty, at least.
And so let this be

a season for wandering

for trusting the breaking

for tracing the tear

that will return you
to the One who waits

who watches

who works within

the rending

to make your heart

whole.

You can also follow this link for a YouTube video of a song by Jeff Johnson, "Christ Has Walked," that we will be singing all through Lent this year. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pSaI89weew

Blessings of Lent be with you.