Ash Wednesday

A surprising number of us (surprising to me, based on past years) attended the noon Ash Wednesday service today. In one sense I was not surprised to see a number of the Microsoft men attending; their main campus is only a few miles away and some of these guys have horrendous commutes (not to mention work schedules). But they came with their families too, and that was great to see. For at least one family this was a little bit of an education for the children: the significance of the ashen crosses and other things.

Fr. Daniel had noted that the noon service would be a bit shorter than the morning or evening services; I cannot imagine what's different. I noted a nice touch: it appears that all the pew prayer books had their marker ribbons set to today's service. Short and spare, but an excellent intro/homily by Fr. Daniel.

On the way out after the service, I saw one of the harbingers of Spring -- the daffodils were coming up; it's not long until (Welsh) St. David's Day.
And can I relate Kathy's experience of wearing today's ashen cross on her forehead in public? A surprising number of people asked her about it. The non-Christians were impressed; other Christians (she mentioned a Korean Christian) were delighted. There's a witness here...