In a culture that shies away from ageing and death, the annual ritual of Ash Wednesday is a sobering reminder of our vulnerability and mortality. However, it also invites us to reflect on our failures and fallibility, and to recognize that life is not all about us, but about how we relate to others. By Simon Smart
Death and mayhem and bad news are nearly all we hear these days, or so it seems. It’s easy to lose hope.
An acquaintance emailed me recently: “I am completely broken by witnessing my beloved America commit suicide right before my eyes; it is painful to watch, as an old man who remembers her when she was still morally sane.”
Death and mayhem and bad news are nearly all we hear these days, or so it seems. It's easy to lose hope. An acquaintance emailed me recently: "I am completely broken by witnessing my beloved America commit suicide right before my eyes; it is painful to watch, as an old man who remembers her when…
Luther’s theological positions were disastrously wrong, but his anguished search for certainty of his own salvation humanized him for me, as much as his screeching diatribes against the Church repulsed me.