Lent begins this week on February 26 with Ash Wednesday. For some of us who weren’t raised in a very liturgical Christian tradition, Lent may still be a fairly new thing. It wasn’t part of my church growing up, but in the past decade, I’ve come to love the symbolism and invitation of this day to reflect on the meaning of life by remembering that we all carry death with us.
Ash Wednesday invites believers to receive the sign of the cross on their forehead. Receiving this oily and ashy cross is both an anointing and a marking. The ashes are the burnt remains of the palms we waved last year on Palm Sunday. Those dirty remains of the triumphant entry are then mixed with oil—the same oil that’s used to anoint and bless. So this cross is a blessing that we’re alive even as we’ve been marked for death. Or maybe the reminder that we’ve been marked for death is a blessing. Either way this smudgy cross causes us to stop.
It’s odd, to say the least, to let someone put an oily, ashy cross on your forehead, but the oddity is kinda the whole point.
You’re supposed to be caught off guard.
You’re supposed to be surprised every time you look in the mirror.
You’re supposed to be confused for a moment when you rest your head in your hand or scratch an itch and your hand comes away a little dirty.
You’re supposed to get odd looks from some and smiles of camaraderie from others.
The oddity of accepting a smudge of ash and oil on your forehead is the point. It bears witness to a truth we don’t often acknowledge—that death is our constant companion. On Ash Wednesday we make visible the marks of deaths we carry with us all the time—the deaths of relationships, the deaths of loved ones, even our own eventual death.
Lent is a time to face the pain of death and honor the truth that all things pass away. That one day, our bodies will pass away and our breath will return to God.
Embracing the oddity of this mark, I want to try something a little different for Ash Wednesday this year. While we’ll still have our usual service and ashes will be available there, I will be at the church from 7:30 in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon to make ashes available to anyone who wants them. I encourage you to come receive this oily, ashy gift early so that you can be surprised and blessed again and again throughout the day. During our service there will be a time for you to reflect and even share your thoughts on what it was like to bear this mark throughout the day.
In Love,
Pastor Annette