Today, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. It is the day of ashes – a day for us to begin our turning to the Lord – a day for turning of the heart to God.
In the bible, as we know, ashes were a symbol. All through the bible, people put on ash to symbolise their turning to God. When they turned away from their pride, arrogance, their collusion with injustice, and embraced God, they would put on ash. The ash was an outward sign of contrition and penitence, and a new willingness to turn again to the Lord. Can you remember people in the bible who wore ashes?
Ash is a symbol in the bible – it is a Christian symbol for us as well. Here is some ash. What are the images that come into mind when you think of ash?
I think of the wheat and barley fields being burnt off in the autumn in readiness for a new growing season. I recall the bomb fires we used to have at home when I was a child, when Dad cleaned out his study, and we got rid of piles of junk cluttering up the house – so the ash is an image of clearing away the unnecessary and getting back to essentials.
Ash also reminds me of the tragedies and the violent things people have done – the house fire which killed someone recently – the wars we have fought where whole villages and forests were burned, when nuclear bombs on Japan; and so on. These things make us grieve over the plight of our humanity – the great suffering that people go through – the amount of money we spend on weapons of destruction when so many people are starving to death.
Above all, these ashes are a symbol of our human finiteness, from dust we come and to dust we will return. I won’t live forever, there are things I can’t do any more that I used to be able to. The ash is a reminder of the fragility of human life.
Christianity is a religion that remembers and keeps the stories alive of redemptive memory. In our tradition, we remember great suffering. We remember the saints – many of whom died terrible deaths for their faith. And we remember above all death of Christ – who came into this world – and who at great cost offered God’s love and forgiveness and made available the new life of the resurrection to us all.
Do not take lightly the imposition of ashes today. Don’t come just because the vicar thinks it’s a good idea. Don’t come to appease God, or out of some sense of obligation. Come to receive these ashes today, because we are recalling the costly love shown us by Jesus, who loves each and every one of us, and knows the number of hairs on our head – the same Son of God, who has become one with our humanity, and who shares our joys and sorrows now.
As you come to receive the ashes – remember the ways Jesus resisted human evil and hatred and violence; the ways he laid down his life for those he loved. Come to be joined to his dying so that he can raise you up into the new life of his resurrection; come because he calls each of us to a new lives of love and compassion.
As the ashes are put on all of us today then, they remind us to turn again to the Lord. We come repentant, in an attitude of sorrow for our part in adding to the suffering of the world. May the ashes remind you of your deep need of God. Come because of your commitment to being renewed and made holy and because you wish to make a new start with God again. Be sealed once again with the sign of the cross of Christ as on that day when you were baptised and made a child of God – when with this same sign you received the promised forgiveness of God, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Return to the Lord your God, for the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in love. Return to the Lord, for a close relationship with God is the purpose of our lives, which means our repentance is a decision to devote our will and our attention to strengthening our relationship with God. Do not take God’s goodness for granted, but “return to the Lord with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning.” The beginning of Lent is a good time to reassess our relationship with God, to review the last year, where we have squandered opportunities or lacked commitment. Now is a good time to make up for these lost opportunities and to do something about them. Matthew suggests we practice the unobtrusive form of spiritual exercises. Jesus tells us which spiritual exercises will make us spiritually fit. They focus on what is essential and what will bring us closer to God. These include alms giving, praying more, and fasting. And if we go about these in secret, from the depths of our being where all important things happen, then God will come to the party and reward us at a deep personal level where our relationship with him is to be found.
So, this Lent, make time to be more fervent in your life of prayer. If you give something up, do so to realise your dependence on God for everything. Whatever money you save, give away to the needy. Every major religion practices the discipline of fasting. Christian fast days are traditionally Wednesdays and Fridays. Those could be non meat days when you eat vegetarian food. So, come to God with fasting. Come with a renewed willingness to give to others in need. And your heavenly Father, who sees what you do in secret, will reward you.
