A Lenten Devotion by Debbie Clark
Lo, I am with you always, even to the ends of the earth.
Matthew 28:20b
When I was a teenager, my church, Emmaus United Church of Christ in Vienna, Virginia, established a new tradition. At the suggestion of the pastor, the Youth Group took responsibility for planning and leading an evening Ash Wednesday service.
It was a smart move on the pastor’s part. Until that time, I believe, the church had never held a service for Ash Wednesday. In that very Protestant part of the country, not many churches did. By asking the youth to lead it, our pastor was ensuring that people would be willing to give it a try. He also opened the door for a creative and positive approach to a day that is often experienced as somber.
Every year I volunteered for the planning team, a mixture of youth and a few advisors. We got great pleasure out of asking the adults who dared attend the service to sit on the floor on cushions. Sometimes we broke into small groups for discussion. We had guitar music, and one year we invited everyone to fast for the day. Today we would call it intergenerational, multi-sensory worship.
At our planning meeting one year, Ralph Popp, one of our adult advisors, said he wanted to surprise us with the benediction. Intrigued, we agreed.
That particular Ash Wednesday, for me, turned out to be a bad day. I don’t remember what happened in school, but when I came to the service that evening I felt discouraged and lonely.
When time came for the benediction, we were all seated on the floor in a circle. Ralph came to each one of us, placing a nail with a little red lipstick on it in our hands, a reminder of Jesus’ crucifixion. And then, looking in each person’s eyes, he repeated the last line of the gospel according to Matthew: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the earth.”
It was such a gift to me. Those were the words I needed to hear. To this day, I wonder how he knew.
For years, I kept that nail on my dresser. When I had a bad day, I would pick it up and remember Ralph’s caring and Jesus’ promise. I knew I was not alone.
Thank you, God, for adults who understand. Thank you, God, for the assurance that we are not alone. Amen.