Baby Got Ashed
My family still has Catholic roots and a conceptual understanding of the religious rites of passage for that denomination, and they read this blog, so I thought it would be appropriate to share a small rite of passage for The Boy. Let's call this one Baby Got Ashed- with apologies to Sir Mix alot.
Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of lent. In this mixed faith household it means the kick off to the second busiest time of the year, but also the start of some temporary dietary changes. Bob is a still practicing Catholic who is currently making strong considerations on becoming a Methodist, but still under contractual obligations to a Roman Catholic church. The reasons for the considered change have more to do with expression from the community rather than questions of theology, and for that reason I keep telling him that no matter where he goes, he will still be a catholic swimming in ___ waters. So when the particular Methodist congregation he attends starts embracing Catholic customs, he is so there !
This year due to the service schedule at the Catholic church plus a need to conduct some telephone business deals, Bob took a day off work. There were two services that he was scheduled to sing with the Catholic church and then in the evening the Methodist church was distributing ashes and he was going to play his bass with the praise band as well as sing.From a standpoint of the homefront, it meant I got to see him less on his "day off" than a working day because of commute time, reversal times and so forth. Because singing for two catholic services meant removing the ashes on his forehead after the first, getting ashed for a second time ,he came home looking like a liturgical forest fire fighter. Then once again I would look at him from the opposite end of the dinner table, eating a meatless meal, reminding myself that this is meaningful ,intentional dirt on his forehead. As a former Catholic, I know full well the meaning of the mark, and there is a warm fuzzy part of memory that surrounds this one of two souvenir days in Catholicism. Sure you can bring home holy water any time and a communion wafer if you have made that sacramental passage, but only two times of the year do you get official souvenirs handed out from the table, so to speak, just for attending.Ash Wednesday was always more fun, because it became sort of like flashing a secret gang sign to the world, and seeing who all of your fellow brothers in faith were. It was the one day of the year it seemed to be cool to be a Catholic.
Nick has been raised where he is taught the basics of both of our faith paths, brought in attendance to our particular services when he chooses, been included in theological discussions, has seen our faiths applied to our lives, and given the total freedom to walk whatever path he chooses.It is ultimately his choice and whatever it is we will fully support him. He was the one with the stronger leanings to the Methodist church , simply because of the expressions of a genuine warm community at this church. Bob would be invited as a guest soloist on several occasions, and one day he took Nick with him to give me a needed break due to some homeschool related issue I needed to deal with at that time. Nick fell in love with these folks, and began actively participating. Completely of his own volition he chose to participate in communion for the first time with these folks, and tries to get involved wherever he can. We have taken him to the Catholic services, the path he was baptized in, but he is absolutely dead cold to the path. After he took communion with the Methodists I decided he was able to understand what the act meant, instructed him on the rite from a Catholic perspective, and allowed him to go up and participate in the sacrament, only to have him ,upon receiving, yell at the top of his lungs in front of the whole congregation "Mom ! I ate the Jesus Cookie !!!!!" Yep. Good times.
Well, when Nick learned that the Methodists were having an Ash Wednesday service, after years of seeing daddy come home with ashes on his forehead, decided he really wanted to participate in the rite. I have never allowed him to do so before , mainly because of time restrictions with Bob serving as a cantor at these services.Plus, he did not fully understand what lent or The Crucifixion and Resurrection meant, so participation would be a wasted effort. All day long he was really excited about the prospect , and kept talking about how excited he was to go get ashes. I kept trying to talk to him to make sure he understood what the deeper meaning behind this action was, and he seemed to understand. So after dinner, off the guys went, and I stayed home because obviously, Lent is nothing to me.
The Methodists do things in a much more dramatic fashion than the Catholics, or at least one that is easier for the modern human to wrap their mind around. First off , the pastor of this congregation dressed in Sack cloth , and the participants were invited to write down on a card a particular sin they wanted to give up during lent, and then nail it to a tissue paper covered board. Happily Bob was able to keep an eye on Nick because in Nick's excitement, he wrote on the card "Hi mom, I love you", thinking this was sort of an extension of Valentines day.Not exactly wrong in the sentiment, it is a gift of love, but ..! After the card was nailed to the board, the pastor pulled away the tissue, revealing the face of Jesus, now filled with nail holes. The conformation class then collected the cards and were going to take them outside and burn them later. And then came time for the ashes. It turns out that instead of having a priest or minister distribute them, each congregant applies there own. So the boy who was so thrilled to receive "the Jesus cookie", got to ash himself.
We had told him before , thankfully ,that he should not smear them on the rest of his face, it does not hurt or itch, and it does come off with water. So he tried , in his very best fashion. to leave it alone till he could come home and show mommy his ashes
He was genuinely thrilled to death to get his very first dirty forehead. Thus marks another day for the baby book. Baby's first step, baby's first word, baby got ashed !
Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of lent. In this mixed faith household it means the kick off to the second busiest time of the year, but also the start of some temporary dietary changes. Bob is a still practicing Catholic who is currently making strong considerations on becoming a Methodist, but still under contractual obligations to a Roman Catholic church. The reasons for the considered change have more to do with expression from the community rather than questions of theology, and for that reason I keep telling him that no matter where he goes, he will still be a catholic swimming in ___ waters. So when the particular Methodist congregation he attends starts embracing Catholic customs, he is so there !
This year due to the service schedule at the Catholic church plus a need to conduct some telephone business deals, Bob took a day off work. There were two services that he was scheduled to sing with the Catholic church and then in the evening the Methodist church was distributing ashes and he was going to play his bass with the praise band as well as sing.From a standpoint of the homefront, it meant I got to see him less on his "day off" than a working day because of commute time, reversal times and so forth. Because singing for two catholic services meant removing the ashes on his forehead after the first, getting ashed for a second time ,he came home looking like a liturgical forest fire fighter. Then once again I would look at him from the opposite end of the dinner table, eating a meatless meal, reminding myself that this is meaningful ,intentional dirt on his forehead. As a former Catholic, I know full well the meaning of the mark, and there is a warm fuzzy part of memory that surrounds this one of two souvenir days in Catholicism. Sure you can bring home holy water any time and a communion wafer if you have made that sacramental passage, but only two times of the year do you get official souvenirs handed out from the table, so to speak, just for attending.Ash Wednesday was always more fun, because it became sort of like flashing a secret gang sign to the world, and seeing who all of your fellow brothers in faith were. It was the one day of the year it seemed to be cool to be a Catholic.
Nick has been raised where he is taught the basics of both of our faith paths, brought in attendance to our particular services when he chooses, been included in theological discussions, has seen our faiths applied to our lives, and given the total freedom to walk whatever path he chooses.It is ultimately his choice and whatever it is we will fully support him. He was the one with the stronger leanings to the Methodist church , simply because of the expressions of a genuine warm community at this church. Bob would be invited as a guest soloist on several occasions, and one day he took Nick with him to give me a needed break due to some homeschool related issue I needed to deal with at that time. Nick fell in love with these folks, and began actively participating. Completely of his own volition he chose to participate in communion for the first time with these folks, and tries to get involved wherever he can. We have taken him to the Catholic services, the path he was baptized in, but he is absolutely dead cold to the path. After he took communion with the Methodists I decided he was able to understand what the act meant, instructed him on the rite from a Catholic perspective, and allowed him to go up and participate in the sacrament, only to have him ,upon receiving, yell at the top of his lungs in front of the whole congregation "Mom ! I ate the Jesus Cookie !!!!!" Yep. Good times.
Well, when Nick learned that the Methodists were having an Ash Wednesday service, after years of seeing daddy come home with ashes on his forehead, decided he really wanted to participate in the rite. I have never allowed him to do so before , mainly because of time restrictions with Bob serving as a cantor at these services.Plus, he did not fully understand what lent or The Crucifixion and Resurrection meant, so participation would be a wasted effort. All day long he was really excited about the prospect , and kept talking about how excited he was to go get ashes. I kept trying to talk to him to make sure he understood what the deeper meaning behind this action was, and he seemed to understand. So after dinner, off the guys went, and I stayed home because obviously, Lent is nothing to me.
The Methodists do things in a much more dramatic fashion than the Catholics, or at least one that is easier for the modern human to wrap their mind around. First off , the pastor of this congregation dressed in Sack cloth , and the participants were invited to write down on a card a particular sin they wanted to give up during lent, and then nail it to a tissue paper covered board. Happily Bob was able to keep an eye on Nick because in Nick's excitement, he wrote on the card "Hi mom, I love you", thinking this was sort of an extension of Valentines day.Not exactly wrong in the sentiment, it is a gift of love, but ..! After the card was nailed to the board, the pastor pulled away the tissue, revealing the face of Jesus, now filled with nail holes. The conformation class then collected the cards and were going to take them outside and burn them later. And then came time for the ashes. It turns out that instead of having a priest or minister distribute them, each congregant applies there own. So the boy who was so thrilled to receive "the Jesus cookie", got to ash himself.
We had told him before , thankfully ,that he should not smear them on the rest of his face, it does not hurt or itch, and it does come off with water. So he tried , in his very best fashion. to leave it alone till he could come home and show mommy his ashes
He was genuinely thrilled to death to get his very first dirty forehead. Thus marks another day for the baby book. Baby's first step, baby's first word, baby got ashed !