I have never actually gone to a service celebrating Ash Wednesday. While I do attend an evangelical church back home I have never experienced the ceremonial part of an Ash service. This past wednesday I attended one. My reactions from it are very mixed. You have to understand I come from a very evangelical church where it is on the other end of the spectrum when it comes to sacraments and ceremonial type events. Our church does baptism and communion but we don't walk down the middle of the sanctuary carrying a large cross on a stick and spread ashes on our foreheads.
I would describe my Ash Wednesday experience as a learning experience. I realized how people celebrate Christ in different ways. We believe in the same thing, but we go about celebrating/remembering it in different ways. Its like a birthday party- some people eat cake, some people play pin the tail on the donkey.
Part of me wonders if I am condoning other people for celebrating the same things I celebrate but in different ways. I'm wondering if in daily life I look down on neighbors or friends just because they go about things in a different way then I would.
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