“For beauty to come from ashes, something has to burn.”

Emily Freedman

I have been thinking on this phrase a lot today, Ash Wednesday. At the 2020 edition of this service – barely a month after burying our pastor and shortly after welcoming our second interim – we caused quite a blaze in the sanctuary with prayer candles and most people barely batted an eye lash; it was just that kind of year.

But it isn’t always a fire that puts you in a pile of ashes. I was looking at this image tonight and remembering a time almost a year ago when we were desperate to hold on to some pieces of a normal that was slipping further and further away. We had to let it go; we had to let our plans and expectations burn down to get to where we are now.

And Lord knows, none of this is perfect.

But I see some beauty in it now.