ash wednesday

"Lord, for thy tender mercy's sake, lay not our sins to our charge, but forgive that is past, and give us grace to amend our sinful lives; to decline from sin and incline to virtue, that we may walk with a perfect heart before thee now and evermore. Amen.

Henry Bull






"Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
they delight to draw near to God.
"Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?"

Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel
and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush
and to lie in sack cloth and ashes?...

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed to free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

...Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say, Here I am...."

Isaiah 58:1-9




















Did you know that in 2006, Las Vegas passed a law so that citizens could be issued a citation for feeding the homeless?