2025 Lenten Meditations from All Saints’ Parishioners
Week of March 5
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March 5: A Meditation for Ash Wednesday
By Ethel Ware Carter
“I’ve found out a great thing about ashes, they don’t stain.” These words came over the telephone from by messiest child in the days when he stoked a wood-burning stove to keep his North Carolina farmhouse warm. The last frigid weeks had produced a mountain of ashes, powdery underfoot, ground into the knees of his trousers, smeared along the woodwork, and refusing to stay put outside on the garden until frozen in place by a layer of icy snow. They did not leave stains but they would not be stilled. Our Ash Wednesday ashes don’t stain either. They don’t last long, just a symbol for a day at the beginning of a season of reflection, of repentance, of intentionally assuming a posture of openness to God. I love that it is in the middle of the week, Wednesday can be holy, I forget that.
The assigned reading for Ash Wednesday this year is Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21. Jesus cautions us not look somber as the hypocrites do when they fast. They mark their faces so others will see. And here we are marking our faces. . . this calls for some self-examination, and we know that is the point.
We are crossed on our foreheads with a symbol that is one of both life and death and reminded that we are dust. I know memento mori says many things. Whatever it means to you, dust we are, indeed. We read much today about the kind of dust we are . . . star dust. I think knowing this renders my ashes a memento vivere. Our cross of ashes might just remind me that we are star dust, so live like stardust, sparkle. I wish I knew the name of the woman who when cautioned by Harry not to wear herself out, said “I just want to be sure I am used up.” Where there are ashes there has been flame. Flame cannot be captured and held, it dies. It burns itself up giving heat and light and life.
Lenten Meditations from All Saints’ Parishioners
Reflecting on the Upcoming Sunday’s Gospel:
Jesus is Tempted in the Wilderness
Luke 4:1-13 | Read the Gospel for Sunday, March 9 here.
March 6: A Meditation on Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness
By Laura Trott
I love two windows at All Saints’ in particular, both for their horizons. In the first, Christ calls two
fishermen to a life of discipleship. Beyond them are purple hills set amidst a blazing orange sunset, and the waves of the sea shimmer in response. I would like to step into this scene, put my feet beside the blue Sea of Galilee and watch Simon Peter with his hand against his chest say, “me?”
The second window is equally spectacular, and yet I have no wish to intrude upon this scene. Jesus sits alone on a mountaintop. The evening sky is streaked with color, but in the foreground, a serpent slithers away. The man on the mountain does not look particularly divine. His head hangs downward—perhaps in prayer, certainly in hunger and exhaustion—and I wonder how 40 days in the wilderness have changed him and how they might change me.
Lent invites us to step into the wilderness, and while I hope my own path will not resemble the dramatics of Luke’s gospel reading, these passages serve as a reminder that a life of faith is a contact sport, one where I am asked to engage totally—body, head, and heart—with God and his creation, whatever the state of my own life and whatever the state of the world. I, who have never been a Lent enthusiast, feel surprisingly keen about this season and its opportunities for reflection, renewal, and challenge. Therefore, I am resolving to put on my walking shoes and return to the window of Christ in the wilderness, which contains things that neither my mind nor stained glass can wholly capture. Jesus is not alone in the wilderness. He has trusted in the grace of God to carry him to the other side of these forty days. He is also, Luke tells us, filled with and led by the Holy Spirit, which provided, and still provides, its own particular sustenance.
March 7: A Meditation on Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness
By Rob Thompson
Often, as I have grown older, I am made aware of the fact that life requires sacrifices of us. Perhaps we can no longer eat the foods we love because of our changing metabolisms. Maybe our free time shrinks as we need to use more of it to perform tasks like purchasing insurance, registering our children for school or updating household budgeting.
It is a comfort to me to know that the spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for a trial. To know that even the son of God was called to place where he needed to keep a long term goal in mind while doing the hard things that insure he realized that goal. It is a gift to be mindful of the future in the face of tasks and events that seem less fun in the present.
March 8: A Meditation on Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness
By Dick Nagy
Jesus was in the wilderness, famished from the 40 days as he was being tempted with grave challenges at a time of great weakness. Many of us have been in a wilderness of our own, perhaps of our own making, facing temptation. Weakness comes at these moments. What do we do, yield or become resolute? To yield to temptation is human. Jesus faced that weakness but his faith in the Spirit and in God guided his choices.
I have been faced with temptations, one that would have changed my life. But my integrity and honor, bolstered by my growing spirituality and faith and knowing of God’s presence in my life, gave me support for reaffirmation. No, I did not become superhuman in making the necessary choice. I was just a struggling human in the wilderness of life, muddling his way through, trying to find my path. Finding the path was not always easy. Sometimes it seemed to be hidden, hidden by my humanness. I have this child in my mind from so many years ago wanting the easy, fun way, but I have to embrace, nurture, and lead him to the better way.
As I move through this Lenten season, I think I am called to examine those choices that went awry. What can I learn from them? Do I need to forgive or ask for forgiveness? Looking back and examining ourselves, our life, can be a transformative process where we can become more aware of God’s presence in our past and his wishes for us. Our temptations are not as daunting as those Jesus faced, yet as he grew stronger in his faith, we can also grow stronger in ours.
Next week's meditations will be added on Friday, March 7.
