Tattooed ~ Ash Wednesday
Scripture ~ “Coming down off the mountain with them, Jesus stood on a plain surrounded by disciples, and was soon joined by a huge congregation. They had come both to hear him and to be cured of their ailments. Everyone was trying to touch him – so much energy surging from him, so many people healed!” Luke 6:17-20 The Message
Spiritual Focus ~”My body is my journal, and my tattoos are my story.” Johnny Depp, American actor, producer, and musician
Breath Prayer ~ Inhale One path, Exhale Love
Devotion ~ For many Christians this week is the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent. On Ash Wednesday people are marked with a cross of ashes on their forehead to identify themselves as followers of Jesus and to acknowledge our mortality. This practice is known as the imposition of ashes. Marking our bodies tells a story about us, a journal of sorts, of what we believe or value. Tattoos also serve this purpose, telling a story that says something about our identity. Sometimes tattoos are used to cover scars or wounds and, thus, can frame a new narrative. Whether we have tattoos on our body or ashes on our forehead, we are telling a story of who we are or whose we are.
During Lent many congregations focus specifically on the teachings of Jesus. This year Yogadevotion has chosen to delve into what Jesus taught when he came out of the wilderness, the Sermon on the Plain from the gospel of Luke. In what might be considered his greatest teaching, Jesus claims his identity as the son of God, and then invites us to share in that identity with him as siblings, fellow children of God. In the Sermon on the Plain Jesus meets us right where we are and teaches us how to stop hurting each other as a first step to loving each other. It is a radical, upside down teaching then and still is today.
The universal and personal ethics of Patanjali’s yoga philosophy are the teachings of “right living” most well-known as the yamas and the niyamas. Right living sets the foundation to experience something greater than self, that is, union or connection in Love. This intersection of faith and yoga is the one path of Love and recognition that the whole body is a beautiful, spiritual vessel for the Lenten or life journey.
The ritual practice of the imposition of ashes may be frightening for some, especially children, so an alternative practice was adopted at a local church. People were invited to ink their thumbprint and add it to a story board, claiming their unique identity as siblings in the human family, claimed by Christ in the One Path: A Journey of Love.
