Ashes for Ash Wednesday?

Ashes for 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 provides that forgiveness.

At Mt. Lebanon, we practice the Imposition of Ashes. Near the beginning of the service, worshipers have the opportunity to have their forehead or hand marked with ashes.  This is an optional worship activity.  Worshipers of all ages may receive the ashes, and parents who wish to participate are encouraged to spend time discussing the meaning of the action with their children.

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 (Jeremiah 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” (Matthew 11:21).  Marking oneself with ashes as an outward sign of repentance was a familiar picture to the Jews of Jesus’ day. 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” (Romans 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” (Genesis 3:19).

Ashes also symbolize our need to repent of the sins that contaminate our lives.  As our soul is dirty with sin, our bodies are marked with dirty ashes, which makes plain to everyone who sees us our heartfelt confession of sin to God.

There was a time when Lutheranism set aside the practice of the imposition of ashes. We did this to give a clear testimony to the truth that Jesus alone is our salvation, completely apart from the works of the law. We did this because there were some who made the imposition a work by which we worked out salvation. We continue to work at making a clear confession that Jesus alone is our Savior and our salvation. There is nothing we need to do or even can do that will earn heaven for us.

At the same time, we recognize the value and importance of the things handed down to us. Traditions like this can teach us and form us. In this way, the Imposition of Ashes is a tradition that can be a servant of gospel ministry.  It can help us to recall and grasp a deeper understanding of the spiritual truth that we are dust and ashes because of our sin and sinfulness.

For some, ashes may 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.

Whenever we worship in ways that are strange to us, we are always going to experience some level of discomfort.  We may understand intellectually that crossing ourselves as we speak the baptismal formula (“In the name of the Father…) is a helpful way to remember our own baptism (and Luther commended the practice), but it simply doesn’t feel right to us emotionally.  For some, the Imposition of Ashes may bring about memories spent under the threat of the law; for others, it will be deeply meaningful.

The Imposition of Ashes is an age-old practice to help add new meaning to your repentance and contrition during Lent.  This practice is entirely optional.  We do not question another person’s piety should someone decline to participate.  The only proper conclusion is that another brother or sister in Christ is carrying out his faith the way he or she sees fit.

Those who wish to come forward for the imposition of ashes will simply come forward during that part of the service; the ushers WILL NOT direct people to come forward.  Those who wish to come forward can receive the ashes on the forehead or the back of the hand.

May God bless our Lenten journey and the traditions that accompany it.