Sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the phrase “third place” to describe spaces beyond the two main poles of our lives: home and work. At home, we live our private roles. At work, we carry out our public responsibilities. Third places are the church, cafés, libraries, and parks where community forms, and we remember we are more than our obligations.

When those spaces disappear, life tightens into a loop between productivity and privacy. We move from task to task and rarely pause to ask who we are becoming.

Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent create a sacred third space. At home, relationships and routines shape you. At work, expectations and performance define you. But when you step forward to receive ashes, those labels fall away. Titles fade. Status fades. Success and failure lose their grip. Christ meets you there, not as a résumé or a role, but as a soul. You hear the words: " You are dust. And you belong to Christ.

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