St. Paul's Chaple in Iowa City

Dear Pastor:

"I remember speaking those words over my children when they were little and the ashes smudged their forehead. Little, vibrant, full of life - so they seemed - but they too were destined for the grave. Same with me. Same with you. 'All of us go down to the dust' as a beautiful Russian hymn has it."

I thought the same thing, watching my daughters at church last night.  The dichotomy was especially striking with my 3 month old, not yet at that age when deliberate sin is obvious.  Even so, she went to the font at 8 days old, because the sin is there from the beginning.  I was so struck by the sight I had to take a picture when we got home.

Parishioner at St. Paul's