Christ Our Anchor is an Anglican mission in Nashville, Tennessee, focused on restoring relationships with God and neighbor through worship and work.

Join us Wednesday evenings in East Nashville at 530 for a time of fellowship, followed by evening prayer at 630.

Everyone is welcome.

You can learn more about providing paid work for the glory of God’s kingdom by visiting us at ChristOurAnchor.org.

In this season of Lent, it’s easy to get down on ourselves.

In some ways, this is the point.

We are to remember our sins, the mistakes we’ve made that lead us away from God.

In the darkness and fasting of Lent, it’s easy to remember all the things we’ve done wrong, how we failed.

But I want to remind us of something tonight.

No matter how low you’ve gone, no matter how badly you’ve screwed up, Jesus has gone lower, deeper, and further down to save us.

Jesus went to the depths of hell to save us.

He bore the weight of sins and mistakes deeper and more awful than we can comprehend.

Even as we remember mistakes, even as we are embarrassed, even as we feel the pain of broken relationships and the times we’ve let others down, Jesus has seen worse.

Jesus has seen it all.

Hear the good news tonight.

Jesus came to save sinners.

He sees your filth, your evil thoughts, your selfishness, everything.

All your secrets, He knows them.

And yet, He loves you.

He loves you so much that He was willing to die for you.

Here, week after week, I proclaim God’s forgiveness to you after confession.

It is true each and every time.

It is true today, it was true yesterday, and it will be true tomorrow.

You are forgiven, always.

The ashes placed on our heads today are a sign of our sins, but they are placed in the form of a cross as a sign of our hope.

On the cross, our sins were seen and named, but Jesus took them all upon Himself and they are remembered no more.

Tonight, you are anointed as a sinner, yes, but a sinner who is a beloved child of God, a sinner washed in His blood, and through adoption, a royal heir of God’s eternal kingdom.

So live as an heir.

Give Him your heart.

Have a holy wedding, and allow God to mold your will to His.

In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.