Ash Wednesday Service

February 14, 2018

            There’s a desire by some folks out there to make this service, this Ash Wednesday service, a little less Ash Wednesdayish. What I mean by that is that some consider this service to be depressing. It does, after all, remind us that no matter who we are, no matter how much money we have or don’t, how healthy we are right now or not, whether we have power and influence, regardless of any character trait we may bear, one day we all are going to die. One day we all are going to go back to that from which we came – dust.

            I’ve heard different suggestions for making this service a little less somber, therefore a little less depressing. Instead of saying, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” when I impose the ashes on your forehead, I could say, “Remember that you are stardust, and to stardust you shall return.”

            I have read that scientifically there is a theory that we are carrying bits of stardust within us. With the Big Bang, life was created through a series of processes – none of which I claim to understand – and out of creation’s beginning, the elements that formed the universe also form us. Hence, we have some stardust in us.

            Another trend is glitter ashes. That’s what I said, glitter ashes. Glitter is mixed into the ash. This is actually being done as a way to support the cause of the LGBTQ community, so using glitter ashes are not just for fun or for silliness.

            While I support that cause, I’m not convinced that glitter ash is the way to go. Also, while I can totally get behind having stardust at our core, when it comes time to impose ashes, I’m not going to remind you that you are made of it.

            No, I’m going to say, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Yes, it will probably make you consider death. Yes, it is somber and this is a somber service. Tonight is not the night for lively entertainment, or even raucous rejoicing. Tonight we put on ashes and we remember that one day, hopefully not soon for any of us, we will die. It is the reality of life. It is the one thing in life that is certain. As the old expression goes, the other thing in life that is certain is taxes, but I read a preacher who offered a third certainty. We mess up. We live, we pay taxes, we die and we make a mess of things in the middle of it all.

            Wearing these ashes is not just a reminder that we will one day die. Wearing these ashes is a sign of our penitence. While Ash Wednesday may not be biblical in and of itself, the practice of wearing ashes, of putting on sackcloth as a sign of remorse is.

            So we remind ourselves tonight of our deaths, and we accept these ashes as a sign of our penitence.

            But what does it do to remind ourselves of our own mortality? Perhaps it is true that reflecting on our death will help to actually live while we are still alive. Lent is not just a journey with a destination of the cross of Good Friday and the new life of Easter at its end. Lent is a time of preparation and it is a time for renewal. Yes, we are preparing for the death of our Lord and Savior, and we are preparing for his glorious resurrection. But we are also actively remembering that Jesus did not come so we could have half lives. Jesus came so we could live fully, so we could live abundant lives. Jesus did not die for us to forget the beauty of life here and now. Jesus was not raised to new life so that we might abandon the life we are called to live in the present. In Lent we prepare for death and new life, and we live this life more fully, more completely.

            And these ashes are a sign of our penitence, of our recognition that we sin, that we mess up, that we are complicit in larger sins and sinfulness. But they are also a mark that declares we are claimed by God. We wear these ashes because we know that we are God’s. We know that God wants more than an outward sign of remorse. God wants our hearts. God wants our minds. God wants our all. But these ashes are a start. They are a start and they are statement that we remember the One to whom we belong.

            But we cannot wear these ashes everyday. Sometime in the next few hours, the ashes will be washed off. We may go out after this service and people will see our ashes, but tomorrow they will not. But while the outward sign may wash off, we are still claimed. God still calls us to repent and turn around once more toward him. But I am not asking us to walk around in a constant state of guilt. That’s not what tonight is about. That’s not ultimately what these ashes are about. I don’t think God wants us to live guilty, shame filled lives. I think God wants us to live with all that we have and with all that we are for God and for our neighbor.

            Tonight is also Valentine’s Day; a day when romance and love is celebrated. It seems odd and disconnected that Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday should fall on the same day. But I think it works. I think it works, because ultimately Valentine’s Day is about love and so is Ash Wednesday. We are claimed in love. We are called to love. We are made because of love. We are loved. Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return, but it is love that marks every moment of every day from dust to dust.

Amen and amen.