Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Ash Wednesday for a Pentecostal??



So today is Ash Wednesday. My husband is a Catholic and I am a Pentecostal. PROBLEM?? No. See I have learned to have an open-mind about everyone's beliefs. And that includes me being able to except him as a Catholic. So I got ready, dressed the kids, and headed off to mass. Now I've been to mass several times before. I must say it's nothing like my church, but I like the peacefulness of it. As everyone piled into the church, I saw more people than there usually are at a regular mass. And I saw all the faces, white, black, asian, hispanic come together and do what is meant to be done on Ash Wednesday. REPENT! It was such a beautiful service! The humbleness, the sincerity, all of it. Maybe its not what I was brought up to practice, but it touched me. The sermon talked about repenitng and accepting the forgiveness that Jesus offers us. Many of us don't do that. We go to our churches, follow the routines, but still beat ourselves up about the same stuff everyday. Even though we ask GOD to forgive our sins we don't forgive ourselves. Thus, not truly accepting his forgiveness. But these people did. They prayed, they asked, and they left with their crosses of ash across their foreheads. All while believing they truly were forgived. And whether others think they are or aren't it doesn't matter, because to them God accepted their repentence. Thats all that matters really. Who are we to say, oh that's not the right way, or that's not the truth. The truth is as the bible says ALL THAT BELIEVES WILL BE SAVED (John 3:15). Although you and I know there's more to that; GOD's love for all humanity, allows us to worship him in our own way. So I vow to look beyond the label of religon and accept what is, for what it is. I don't feel as if have to hide who my family is to be true to one thing. So I say it as it is; I'm Pentecostal, my husband is Catholic, and I choose to show my kids both sides of the equation, so in the future the holy spirit within them can guide their hearts to the path GOD has already pre-destined them to walk in. For as I said before who am I to decide what is right or wrong?

No comments:

Post a Comment