Ash Wednesday is the day in the year when Christians remember our mortality, hearing, “You are from dust and to dust you shall return” with the marking of ashes on our foreheads in the sign of the Cross. As a sign of our mortality, we often focus on the aspect of death. When our bodies die, they sooner or later turn to ashes, the dust of the earth. But it is important to remember, also, that is from the dust of the earth that God made Adam. God is our Creator, both at the beginning of time and at the beginning of our own lives.
God’s creative power is also a healing power. God heals the brokenness in our lives and in the world when we offer that brokenness to God. This action of giving over that which keeps us fragmented, needy and fearful is what repentance is all about. During the 40 days of Lent, beginning with Ash Wednesday, we strive to identify and turn over to God our brokenness, often referred to as our ‘sinfulness’.
We will begin to observe a holy Lent on Ash Wednesday with two services, one at 7:00 am and the other at 7:00 pm in the church. It will be essentially the same service, a quiet, spoken service offered twice to make coming to worship as accessible as possible. To increase this accessibility, we will be offering “Ashes to Go” at the driveway of the church property on Strawtown Road. Anyone may pause, receive ashes imposed on their foreheads with a blessing, and continue on their way. “Ashes to Go” is not designed to replace worship in the church, but is available to those who simply cannot make it to a worship service on Ash Wednesday, and possibly also for those who have a difficult relationship with the church that makes it difficult for them to go inside but who desire connection with God. The ashes remind us of our relationship with God.
One of the gifts the Church can give to the world is an outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual grace of God. This grace is God’s favor toward us, unearned and undeserved. What we offer on Strawtown roadside in Ashes to Go is for those who can’t or don’t feel comfortable going to church on Ash Wednesday, so the church is willing and able to go to the people with God’s invitation to relationship, repentance and healing.
The Episcopal Church’s liturgy for the day, with the blessing and imposition of ashes in the sign of the Cross, serves as an invitation to repentance and our response to an encounter with the Word of God.
Please let me know if you are available to be part of the Ashes to Go, whether administering ashes yourself or available to hand out written material.
Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return,
and remember that you are precious in God’s sight.