First blog entry since moving over to WordPress. There was a facility in Google to name your blog. What do you think of “Clwyddavis in the 21st Century”? I never figured how to trigger a trumpet call when the site was entered. Oh well, it was a little over the top I guess.

What about Ash Wednesday? We shared a celebration with First United Presbyterian day before yesterday on March 6th. We enjoyed a selection of soups and were energized by the number of kids who seemed to like the program. Meaningful conversations were started and satisfied a need for something beyond food. We concluded with ashes being applied by our pastor and the pastor from First United. Later in the evening I saw Chris Cuomo of CNN with ashes on his forehead. We have gone through the Ash application on a couple of other occasions but it is not a long standing custom in my experience. Maybe in most Presbyterian lives. Maybe that is worth a blog.

My first exposure to this feature of Ash Wednesday was in the late 60s. I was in the Air Force stationed in Montana. I got one of those communications dreaded by all junior officers in all branches of service. It included the phrase “…and in addition to his other duties, Lieutenant Davis will serve as Ground Safety Officer”. Yuck, additional duties. Since I was mainly a Personnel Officer I managed to swing a class in managing ground safety programs. It was being taught on the NYU campus in New York. After getting there the class was relocated to a Hotel in midtown Manhattan. Most attendees were staying in nearby hotels anyway. Those of us in uniform were glad to get off a college campus with the news from Vietnam dominating life every day. On the first Wednesday in the new location I was leaving the hotel where the class was being taught and kept encountering folks with ashes on their head. I wondered where the fire was. Little did I know.