A Pittsburgh Memory

The previous post got me thinking about Pittsburgh. To me, born and raised in small North Carolina towns, it might as well have been New York City.

All the lights and bridges and, of course, the football stadium ignited the evening sky each time we drove to Trinity Cathedral.

My ex-husband was a seminary student and had mentors at the cathedral. At times I could not believe I was part of it all. It was exciting to be around so many intelligent, diverse people

I was really into Christian apologetics at the time, and could converse about C. S. Lewis with other students and ministers.

I also enrolled in a church history course and kept writing my heart out.

I remember one particular Ash Wednesday in downtown Pittsburgh. I took a long walk to the cathedral and saw many foreheads marked in ashes. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, and other churches offered Ash Wednesday services.

For that one day, the churches in the bustling city united all types of people who unashamedly displayed the ashes on their foreheads. From people in smart business attire to the homeless.

That’s what faith does. It temporarily transcends all boundaries. It invites us to suspend worldliness for a short while and feed the spirit.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance…

Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence…

–Book of Common Prayer