Ash Wednesday | The Rev. Chad E. JarnaginC. S. Lewis tells an interesting story in his book "The Great Divorce." A busload of ghosts is making an excursion from hell up to heaven with a view of remaining there permanently. They meet the citizens of heaven and one very big ghost from hell is astonished to find there a man, who on earth, had been tried and executed for murder. "What I would like to know," he explodes, "is what are you doing here, you a murderer, while I a pillar of society, a self-respecting decent citizen am forced to walk the streets down there in smoke and fumes and must live in a place like a pigsty." His friend from heaven tries to explain that he has been forgiven, that both he and the man he had murdered have been reunited before the judgment seat of Christ. But the big ghost from hell replies, "I just can't buy that!" "My rights!" he keeps shouting, "I have got to have my rights the same as you!" "Oh no!" his friend from heaven keeps reassuring him, "It's not as bad as all that! You don't want your rights! Why, if I had gotten my rights, I would never be here. You'll not get your rights, you'll get something far better. You will get the mercy of God."This is why we pray so often in the liturgy: "Lord, have mercy." This prayer, uttered with the smallest of faith, invites God's forgiveness and for the coming of His kingdom in our hearts. As our Orthodox sisters and brothers pray, "Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and repentance, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
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