Day 2: Choosing the Way of the Cross

The Gospel focuses us on a fundamental aspect of Christian life—making choices. Jesus sets before would-be-disciples a daunting choice: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Embrace of the cross leads to life, attempts to avoid it end in death. Following Jesus means to go the distance, walk the entire ‘way,’ and walk it each day. This calls for unflinching self-scrutiny, reorienting our desires, re-scaling our values, re- centering our hopes, and embodying new habits and practices.

Day 1, Ash Wednesday: Standing on Ashes

Repentance is a discipline Americans have never been good at practicing. Our country was built on the backs of slaves, built on land belonging to Native Americans, built by conquest, and conquest rarely happens without violence. We burned this country into existence, forged it from fire, nourished it with blood. Our nation stands on ashes.