Sins--Scarlet, Black, and White

Standing out in the snow this morning while offering Coffee & A Prayer to people, I was struck by both the beauty and the incongruity of our electronic sign at Bethel.

Of course, the snow was building up from the east, and it was more beautiful than the picture would communicate.


Ash Wednesday--a time of repentance--a time to receive a smudge of ash on the forehead to remember that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.  We move through a lengthy litany of sin so that we can come to the promise of forgiveness. 
 But the blackness of sin is sometimes described as scarlet.  We read in the first chapter of Isaiah:
"...says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be like snow..."

As white as snow.  As white as snow on Ash Wednesday.