Ashes, Iced Tea & Casseroles

Here in St. Louis, it's hard to not know it is Ash Wednesday. By midafternoon, any trip to the grocery store or Wal-Mart will bring me into close proximity with those who bear a smudge of ashes on their forehead. I wasn't raised in a tradition that emphasized Ash Wednesday and Lent, but I have dabbled in the ritual. Some years, I attend Ash Wednesday evening services and receive my own ash smudge. Other years, I give up something for the 40 days of Lent, usually iced tea. But I have found that in sacrificing tea, I focus on myself and my sacrifice, not spiritual things. And I spend a ridiculous amount of time thinking about tea if I can't have it. Collections of daily Lenten devotional readings are like books. Good ones I flip through in a day, having no restraint. Boring ones collect dust and hit the recycle bin sometime in July. This year, I will try something different to acknowledge Lent. I will return to my Methodist roots and make casseroles for my Episcopal church's Pot Luck Pals program. I will help feed the hungry of St. Louis County. And, in the kitchen, with its triple peril of a hot oven, hot stove burners and boiling water, I won't focus on me. Though I will sip an iced tea.