Eric Reece
This year, Ash Wednesday is Feb. 22.
It is the first day of the season of Lent in the Christian faith. The church started the tradition in the ninth century. While the day Ash Wednesday is not in the Bible, the practice of using ashes as a symbolic way of showing repentance and seeking forgiveness from God and others is. Ashes remind us of our human mortality and need for forgiveness.
In the book of Genesis 3:19, when Adam fell from grace, the punishment was expulsion from the garden and God said, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
These words inspire the words often used at graveside, “This body we commit to the ground earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
Sackcloth and ashes began a sign of an unspoken way to show you were in mourning or sorrowful for your sins. It was a way of making the unbearable bearable and deal with the pain and suffering of life.
When Job came to understand, after many conversations with God, why he had gone through so much suffering, he said, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42: 5-6).
Ash Wednesday is an opportunity to confront death and sin knowing that the grace of God in Jesus Christ saves us from all sin.
It starts with the palm leaves from the previous year’s Palm Sunday. They are gathered and burned to make the ashes. A shofar (ram’s horn) can be blown to start the service.
Traditional scriptures for the service are Psalm 51, a prayer for forgiveness of King David and Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 concerning prayer, fasting and giving to those in need. Claudia Frances Hernaman’s “Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days” is a favorite hymn to sing, because it recalls Jesus’ time in the wilderness where he overcame temptation for our sake.
As part of the service, the pastor mixes the ashes with a small amount of olive oil and draws a sign of the cross on the forehead (or hand) of the worshiper – as a sign of repentance – while saying the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Repent and believe the gospel.”
The sign of the cross on one’s forehead the rest of the day is a sign of a public profession of the Christian faith.
With Ash Wednesday the observance of Lent has begun. Forty days not counting Sundays, to prepare for the Easter celebration. Christians give up something special for Lent, as a way to draw closer to God. Some churches use coin folders or coin banks as a way to raise funds for favorite charities.
Whether your church observes Ash Wednesday or not, it is never too late to take stock of your relationship with God and those around you.
Eric Reece is the faith columnist for The Graham Star. He is pastor of Robbinsville United Methodist Church and can be reached via email, ereece@wnccumc.net.