JOY IN THE ASHES

Ash Wednesday, 2026
Sarah Skinner

Let me remember my death.
Let it be joy.
In death my chains are broken — joy.
Liberation — celebration of the holy (in us all).
The holy rising to retrieve all the sheep scattered in my heart — joy.
I am free, here, and embodied.

Today is Ash Wednesday. I remember death.
I remember — I am already dead.
I remember — the church is dead.

Let there be resurrection, let our voices ring like bells —
Holy, Holy, Holy, O God.
Heaven and Earth are full of your glory.
Heaven and Earth are full of joy — let all peoples be free.

Let the heart be free in death.
Memento mori.

What is there to lose when we remember our death?
What blooms? Joy.

I claim my joy now, with death upon me —
before it is too late.
But it is never too late; death is never late,
always on time.

Beside him?
Joy.