From PNW:
Ash Wednesday is meant to be a solemn day of reflection, humility, and penitence–a ritual that has been observed for centuries as the gateway to Lent. It is a sacred moment in the Christian calendar, marked by ashes applied in the sign of the cross with the words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
+
The ashes are not decoration. They are not political statements. They are a call to repentance, a reminder of human mortality, and a summons to turn toward God. Yet an Atlanta-based progressive church, The Church at Ponce and Highland, has decided to upend all of that with what can only be described as sacrilegious glitter ashes. The church’s website proudly announces that congregants attending its Ash Wednesday service will have a choice between traditional ashes and ashes mixed with purple glitter. The stated purpose of these glittery ashes? To show “remorse at straight Christian cruelty to our LGBTQ siblings” and affirm LGBTQ identity. In other words, this church has hijacked a deeply spiritual ritual, repurposing it as a platform for ideological affirmation rather than repentance before God. Glitter, of all things, is now the vehicle for moral instruction. It is hard to imagine a more blatant distortion of a centuries-old tradition.