Ash Wednesday

Well now…it seems that a very important day in the Liturgical Calender has come and gone, hardly making a ripple on the surface of the culture. I am (of course?) referring to Ash Wednesday, the day that launches us into Lent.

What is Ash Wednesday about, and why haven’t the greeting card companies picked up on it yet? Since we are going to go on a bit of a “Lentin detour” (I feel free to do this, you know, because we made it all the way to the end of Genesis 1 last Sunday!!), maybe we should at least acknowledge a bit of what Ash Wednesday reminds us of. To put it simply, Ash Wednesday is intended to remind us of two important themes. First of all, it reminds us that we are human, mortal…made from dust, and destined to have our bodies return to dust. Second, it reminds us of the importance of repentance, of turning from the path we are on to a better one.

In my mind, those two themes fit quite snuggly together. I’m a human, and in my fragile human-ness I regularly either do things I shouldn’t do or leave undone things I should do. And I need to face those things squarely, to name them and confess them, and then to get on with the journey. I find it helpful to be reminded both that this is the normal way of life for a human, and also that God calls me to not fold up like a cheap tent in the face of my humanity, but to press on toward the higher ground of living my life as an apprentice of Jesus, fragile thought I may be.

Having re-read what I’ve written, I think I might be getting a glimpse of why the greeting card companies haven’t exactly leaped onto the Ash Wednesday bandwagon.  Really, who wants to be reminded of their mortality and fragility? Maybe just a few folks that don’t think either of those things is the last word on what life is all about – people that regard the days we have in these bodies as precious but relatively brief – more like the “on ramp” to forever than the “off ramp” from the glory of youthfulness. I vote for making the most of these days, which might best be done by devoting them to building capacity to love God and enjoy Him forever. Maybe we can make some progress in that direction on Sunday.

See you at The Table.

Peace,

Tim