MARCH 2019

From the Pastor’s Desk

Ash Wednesday and Lent

The Christian year is marked by a rhythm and sequence of special days and seasons centering on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The major seasons include Advent, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter. Following these major seasons and days, the season of Pentecost focuses on the gift of the Holy Spirit and the ongoing presence and work of Jesus Christ in the church. Several periods of the year, called Ordinary Time, also provide reflection on the teachings of Jesus Christ, God’s mighty acts throughout history, and our life of faith and discipleship. Many of these major seasons of the liturgical year include significant days related to the season. Christmas Eve, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter morning, and the Day of Pentecost are perhaps the most well known. Other days include such occasions as the Baptism of Jesus, the Ascension of Jesus, or Christ the King (Reign of Christ) Sunday. Ash Wednesday is another of those significant liturgical days in the church year. Ash Wednesday as experienced today initiates the season of Lent. The season of Lent has origins in the early centuries of the church. By the time the Council of Nicea met in 325 CE, Lent was observed as a period of forty days (not including Sundays) immediately preceding Easter. The forty-day period recalled Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness following his baptism. Lent was a time of repentance, spiritual discipline, and preparation for baptism at Easter. Several centuries later, when the practice of Easter baptism was no longer normative in the church, Lent became less focused on preparation for baptism and widely observed for its focus on repentance, spiritual discipline, and preparation for the intensity of the Holy Week and Easter journey. During the Middle Ages, Ash Wednesday became permanently attached to the season of Lent in the liturgical life and practice of the Church.

Themes and Scripture Ash Wednesday is so named because of the liturgical act of imposing ashes on the forehead. The symbolism of ashes has a long history in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the early Christian literature. In the Bible, ashes are a common sign of mourning. Ashes reflect penance—often in connection to wearing sack cloth. Ashes are also recognition of mortality. Mortality In the second creation story of Genesis (Gen. 2:4b–25), God forms a human, Adam, from dust and breathes into his nostrils the breath of life. From Adam, God makes woman, Eve (Gen. 2:22). Later in the Eden story, Adam and Eve are reminded of their mortality by God, who says, “you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19b).

Summary Ash Wednesday and Lent serve as invitation and journey. Ash Wednesday invites us into reflection on our relationship with God. The themes of mortality and penance are powerful reminders that in life and in death we belong to God. Receiving the imposition of ashes in the shape of a cross on our foreheads reminds us, in the midst of our hectic, scattered, and anxious lives, that God holds us in love now and forever. Lent is a season, then, in which we journey deeper in relationship to our loving God. Lent is a season in which disciplined practices help us let go of behaviors and attitudes that hinder our commitment to God in Jesus Christ while also encouraging us to take on practices and postures that deepen our commitment as disciples of Jesus Christ. Reflection on mortality, engaging in penance, and taking on intentional disciplines are not limited to Ash Wednesday and Lent. Their regular occurrence as part of the rhythm of the liturgical is an annual opportunity to reset, refocus, and recommit to our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. May this Ash Wednesday and Lent be for you a holy season in which you journey even more deeply into God’s love.

Endnote 1. Theology and Ministry Unit of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Book of Common Worship (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1993), 222.

Michael Waschevski serves as Associate Pastor of Programming and Pastoral Care at First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth, Texas and is  an adjunct professor at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas.  Copyright © 2015 www.TheThoughtfulChristian.com. Permission given to the purchaser to copy this page for use in class.