This Wednesday, February 26, is Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the Wednesday that comes seven weeks before Easter, marking the beginning of the season of Lent. During Lent, we focus, along with Christians all over the world, on our need for repentance and forgiveness, and on Jesus’ suffering and death which provided that forgiveness.
Ash Wednesday takes its name from the ancient practice of using ashes as an outward sign of repentance. It’s often mentioned in the Bible. Job’s long struggle with God ended with him saying, “I repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:6) The prophet Jeremiah urged God’s people to “put on sackcloth and roll in ashes” before the judgment of the Lord. (Jer. 6:26) Jesus condemned several cities for not accepting his miracles by saying that if he had performed those miracles in the pagan cities of the day, even those unbelievers “would have repented long ago in dust and ashes.” (Mat. 11:21) Marking oneself with ashes as an outward sign of repentance was a familiar picture to the Jews of Jesus’ day, and the early Christians adopted the same use of ashes from that Jewish practice.
Ashes can still hold rich symbolism for Christians today. The Bible says: “Sin entered the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men.” (Rom. 5:12) Though we are forgiven, our sin guarantees that we will die, and ashes remind us of this fact. For God said to Adam after the first sin, “You [will] return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:19)
Ashes are also a symbol of our need and wish to repent of that sin which contaminates our lives. As our soul is dirty with sin, so our bodies are marked with dirty ashes, and this makes plain to everyone who sees us our heartfelt confession of sin to God.
Given Lutheranism’s rejections of penance as a condition of grace, and given the foolish customs that accompanied the practice (such as blessing the ashes), the Imposition of Ashes was not one of the ancient worship customs retained by the Lutheran Church. For many centuries only Roman Catholics and some Anglicans offered the imposition of ashes at Ash Wednesday services.
Like many other Christian denominations, some Lutherans looked to rediscover ancient worship practices that had been abandoned over the centuries. Many of the customs and traditions that are a regular part of our worship today found a place in the Lutheran Church through the interest and impetus of the liturgical movement in the early 20th century.
Like all symbols, the Imposition of Ashes is a servant of gospel ministry. It has value only in so far as it recalls and enables a deeper understanding of a spiritual truth. God has little interest in ashes; he is concerned with a contrite and repentant heart. For some, ashes will have little impact on their Lenten contrition. For others, however, the ashes imposed on Ash Wednesday may be a powerful reminder of the sorrow over sin that always preceded lifting our eyes to Jesus in faith.
This Wednesday at Mount Lebanon worshippers will have the opportunity to participate in this ritual. It is purely an optional rite in which some will participate as a reminder of their sinfulness and mortality, as well as the rich and new mercies which our Lord pours out on us each day.