Ashes, Dust, and the Cross
Hello friends and peace be with you on this first day of the season of Lent known as Ash Wednesday. In my most recent blog post, I shared with you why the Church observes Lent. You can find that article here.
Today, (we call it Ash Wednesday) marks the beginning of our Lenten observance. We call it “Ash Wednesday” because many Christians throughout the world, including the Catholic and Orthodox Church and some in the Protestant churches (like us Anglicans) will participate in a worship service where our foreheads are marked the sign of the cross with “ash.”
Now, why ash? You might be thinking, couldn’t we use something cleaner or something more pleasing to the eye? I get it. It does seem strange to use ashes to mark our foreheads. Because I talk to so many people who are like, "I hate Ash Wednesday. I don't like wearing those ashes on my forehead." You get some who are, "I don't want to clog my pores." Others get nervous. Others will complain, "I go to the grocery store, and someone has no idea what Ash Wednesday is and then somebody will say to me, "Hey, you have some dirt on your face," which I always like to play that off with, "Really? Where? I'm so sorry. What?" "Oh, it's Ash Wednesday.” Look, I understand there's some people who are uncomfortable about this. And then there are others who are absolutely about it. They love Ash Wednesday. To them, it’s a way to show the world (from their perception) that they are Christian. But here’s the thing. The ashes matter.
In the scriptures, we find all kinds of references to ashes being a sign of repentance and mourning. So just to give you a first example, first of all, in the book of Genesis 3:19, God says to Adam (after he falls, after he commits sin), “You are dust and to dust you shall return.” So, this verse is one of the actual verses quoted during the Ash Wednesday service. We will hear those words this evening. When you say someone is dust and ashes — it’s a symbol of mortality. It’s a symbol of the fact that after the fall, after the commission of the first sin, we are subject not just to suffering, but to suffering and death. Thus, every human being is mortal and we go back (after our death) to a state of being dust and ashes.
A second text that I would highlight is from Job 42:6; this one gets a little more to the heart of what we’re doing during Lent. As Job is standing before the Lord, he says this: “therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Here is actually another layer of meaning to “ash”. Not only does dust symbolize mortality, but ashes and dust symbolize mortality and repentance from sin. Repentance is the second meaning of the symbol of ashes.
We also see this meaning in the book of Daniel, for example in Daniel 9:3. Here, Daniel is praying and interceding for his people and even though Daniel himself is a righteous man, he does penance for the sins of his people. Now, how does Daniel express this penance? Through fasting, sackcloth and ashes. Listen to what Daniel says (chapter 9, verse 3): “I, Daniel, turned my face to the Lord, seeking him by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.” So, all these things together were common practice in the Old Testament during intense periods of fasting and prayer.
Again, the reference to ashes here is the symbol of repentance. There are plenty of other references in the Old Testament (and the New) to the use of ashes as a symbol of repentance, both corporate and private representations, but we’ll just consider these for now as we reflect on Ash Wednesday. I want to invite you to consider your own mortality and need for repentance on this day. See, what’s it all about.
These ashes tell us of a broken world. We live in a broken world and this is not how it’s supposed to be. When we see those ashes, it communicates, or as least I hope it communicates to all of us—the world is not as it should be. God created the world and called it “Good.” Yet, what we often see in the world is despair, abuse, war, famine, disease, confusion, chaos, violence—the list goes on and on. The world is broken and those ashes visually and viscerally tell us that.
Those ashes also tell us we are not what we should be. Those ashes tell us that WE are broken people and yet we were made to be incredibly glorious. Ash Wednesday is the day that I look at my own heart and I know there’s something wrong with my heart. I’m not supposed to be like this. I love things I shouldn’t love, and I don’t love the things that I should love. And so, we need to repent in dust and ashes.
Friends, this is also why those ashes that we have marked on our foreheads are in the shape of the CROSS. Yes, I'm not as I should be. Yes, I haven't lived the life that I should live. But the cross. The cross is the fact that, in the midst of your brokenness, in the midst of my brokenness—Jesus claims us as his own. The cross speaks a better word about who’s you are.
So, when you go to service tonight at St. Paul’s Anglican Church or wherever you may go. When you go forward to receive the thumb marking the sign of the cross on your forehead with ashes. When you go forward and you hear those words that are so true and so profound: “You are dust, and to dust you shall return”, I want you also to hear: “Mine!” “You are mine!”
It’s good for us to begin the season of Lent reminding ourselves of the need for repentance. But remember, with a simple cross on the forehead, we are recognizing that though we are far from perfect, yet God loves and redeems us—not despite our brokenness, but in the midst of it. Jesus takes on our sin when he was crucified on his cross. Let’s be open enough and willing enough to give it to him.
Pax Christ,
Pat+