ATLANTA: On February 6, 2008, First Christian Church of Decatur and Gentle Spirit Christian Church will continue working to bring communities together and offer Ash Wednesday services. This marks a sacred and holy time of reflection for followers of Christ as this service is the beginning of Lent which is the churches six week life reflection and meditation journey to the Easter celebration.
Services will be held on February 6th at 7am and 7pm at 601 West Ponce de Leon Avenue Decatur Georgia. The 7am service will be officiated by Rev. James Brewer-Calvert and the 7pm service will have Rev. James Brewer-Calvert and Rev. Paul M. Turner distributing the ashes.
If you ever wonder why this is a worship service to be present for then consider the following testimony:
"Early morning, Ash Wednesday. Battling the cobwebs of sleep as I drove in the pouring rain to the 7 AM service at St. James. Smiling when the service, held in the 1878-era chapel next to the railroad tracks, was briefly interrupted by the noisy passing of a train. Kneeling at the altar rail as the priest rubbed ashes on my forehead and said, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
When the priest made the sign of the cross, with ashes, on my forehead, I found his words, this reminder of my mortality, not morbid, but comforting. I am dust. I am earth. I came from the stuff of the earth and to the earth I shall one day return. I am made of the same elements as my fellow human beings, my fellow non-human beings, my fellow trees and sunflowers and stars. I am connected to the Whole. I am earth, and fire, and water, and air, and spirit.
As I received the Eucharist, the sign of the cross newly imprinted on my forehead, I could feel my spirit remembering its connectedness to God, its sacred origin. The opening words of the Ash Wednesday prayer, “Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made,” reminded me that the feelings of self-hate I sometimes feel, those moments of self-denigration when I forget my origin in the Divine Beloved – those moments do not come from God. God hates nothing God has made.
As children of God we all have what the Quakers call “the divine spark” within us. We are all connected to God. We are all connected to God's creation. We are all connected to each other." (Darrell-member of GSCC)
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