What is Ash Wednesday?
And Should Christians Participate In It?
Part 5 In Liturgical Church
There used to be a sign for a car dealership where I lived, and the only words on the sign were:
“It’s all about YOU!”
That sign really stood out to me the first time I saw it. It surprised me to be honest with how self-centered it was. It must have worked because over the following weeks signs like it went up everywhere. That sign sums up our culture more than anything else I can really think of. We want the world to be all about us.
But that isn’t true. And I love Lent and Ash Wednesday because they are this breath of fresh air we no longer have to pretend life is all about us or we are all put together or perfect or anything. During Lent, we can be honest that we are weak, we are broken and one day we will die. Ash Wednesday is the first step into this and it begins with the words:
Remember that you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.
what is an ash wednesday service?
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent in the Christian calendar, which is a period of fasting, reflection and spiritual discipline leading up to Easter. During Lent, Christians retell the story of Jesus spending 40 days in the wilderness preparing for his ministry and being tempted.
This season began as a way for Christians to prepare for Baptism and it started out being shorter but over the centuries more and more Christians came to appreciate this time of preparation, fasting and spiritual reflection and thus Lent was born. An Ash Wednesday service is a Christian religious service that takes place on the first day of Lent. You probably recognize it as that day when people walk around with Ashes on their foreheads everywhere.
During the Ash Wednesday service, participants are marked with ashes on their forehead in the shape of a cross as a symbol of their mortality and need for repentance. The service typically includes readings from the Bible, prayers, hymns and a sermon that focuses on repentance and reflection. The atmosphere is often somber and reflective, as participants contemplate their mortality and the need for spiritual renewal. The line that sticks out is as everyone gets ashes, over and over again this phrase is repeated (in fact, it will be said over one billion times this Wednesday).
Remember that you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.
What churches have ash wednesday services?
The Ash Wednesday service is observed by most Christian traditions, including Orthodox, Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Morovians and others. Many people are surprised to find out that Ash Wednesday is one of, if not the, most attended church service in all of the year. It competes with Christmas and Easter in the Catholic Church.
It is a significant day in the liturgical calendar and serves as a reminder to Christians of their spiritual journey towards Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some of the most powerful moments in the service to me are when we realize that the ashes are typically made from burning the palm fronds from the previous year's Palm Sunday service. It stings when we remember that on Palm Sunday the same crowd that yelled “Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” yelled “Crucify him!” just a few days later. On Ash Wednesday, we are reminded that we, like the crowd, are a broken people in need of God.
Why I love ash Wednesday and Lent so much
I will cover this in next’s week’s article on Lent, but what I love most about this season is how it allows us to be truly honest with ourselves. Like that car dealership, we like to pretend it is all about us. We like to pretend we are in control. But that isn’t true. During Lent and beginning with Ash Wednesday we get to proclaim and physically remind ourselves that we are weak, we are broken and one day we will die. I believe our physical bodies are an essential part of our worship and physical signs are great aids for worship. The Ashes we wear remind us of that essential truth we hear repeated in the service:
Remember that you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.
Should Christians “Celebrate”
Ash Wednesday?
Should you celebrate Ash Wednesday? Since I am writing this article…. I am going to say yes. You should. Not just can, you SHOULD go to an Ash Wednesday Service. If you haven’t been to one before, it is just a good experience. Moreover, you should go because 1) the rituals and ideas behind Ash Wednesday are supported in the scriptures, 2) Ash Wednesday is one of the most powerful Christian church services that there is and 3) Ash Wednesday invites all of us into a deeper season of penitence and appreciation for God.
The Bible supports the idea of Ash Wednesday (and most of the service is scripture anyway)
Christians should fast. During Ash Wednesday, there is an expectation of Fasting. Since the service takes place usually during meal times it is a great opportunity to fast for that meal. I am not going to reference every passage of Scripture calling Christians to fast, but I will note just a few things from scripture.
1) Jesus fasted
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. (Matthew 4:1-2)
If we are called to live lives like Jesus, we should imitate the spiritual practices that we Jesus following. Moreover….
2) Jesus called us to fast
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus describes how people are to undergo certain spiritual practices and says:
And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:16-18)
This passage is read during the Ash Wednesday services to remind us WHY we fast. Right before it says to pray in secret. Obviously, that passage about prayer and this passage about fasting are hyperbole. We are not literally called to never let anyone see what spiritual practices we do. What we are called to do is do them for the right reasons. In light of this, many churches wipe the Ashes (an outward sign of our fasting) off before people leave the service. Nonetheless, Jesus calls us too fast and the world should know it. In Matthew 9 Jesus is asked why his disciples aren’t fasting at that time, and he replies
the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
3) Fasting is a spiritual practice throughout ALL of Scripture that is often communal
Fasting was done with all of Israel together. As Americans, we are prone to think of our spirituality individualistically, but Christianity is not individualistic, it is communal though hopefully personal. Ash Wednesday is a time when we all engage together in ritualized
fasting just as God commanded all of Israel to do and just like Jesus worshipped with his disciples and the early Church did. Christians worship together and fasting is a part of that worship.
Not only does the Scripture support (and even command) times of ritualized fasting and penitence, most of the Ash Wednesday services just quote scripture. The warning from Jesus about fasting is read for all as well as other passages commanding us to fast. Then, the people are typically called into self-examination and repentance/confession followed by the placing on of the Ashes with that iconic phrase from Genesis 3
Remember that you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.
Ash Wednesday is a powerful experience
As I stated before, Ash Wednesday is one of, if not the, most attended church service in all of the year. There is a reason this service is so popular. It is powerful. It is powerful because we are honest about ourselves and it is powerful because after hearing 40 people before you and 40 people after being “dust” and seeing it on their faces, it starts to sink in: we are broken, we are weak and one day we will die.
By participating in an Ash Wednesday service, we are invited to reflect on our own mortality and need for spiritual renewal. The marking of ashes on our forehead serves as a tangible reminder of our human frailty and dependence on God for grace and forgiveness. Through fasting, prayer and acts of charity during Lent, people often deepen their relationship with God, grow in their faith, and experience a sense of spiritual renewal and transformation. Ultimately, the spiritual benefits of celebrating Ash Wednesday lie in the opportunity it presents for us to draw closer to God and to become more like Christ. For me, Ash Wednesday is a service I crave each year again and again.
Ash Wednesday (and Lent) is a healthy and necessary part of a full spiritual life
Because of all these reasons…we need Ash Wednesday and Lent to be well-rounded. Part of the beauty of liturgical worship is that it acts as a practice for us and calls us into the fullness of life in Christ. This well-rounded life needs seasons of both celebrating and preparing of feasting and fasting. When we only have the “happy” seasons of the Church year like Christmas and Easter we can lose the balance of the spiritual reality that while yes, Jesus came…and yes, Jesus is alive…God’s plan isn’t fully realized yet. Advent and Lent are the seasons we prepare for those realities so that we can A) fully appreciate them and B) join in God’s cause for the Kingdom.
Should Christians participate in Ash Wednesday? I say yes! But even if it isn’t for you, remember these words from Paul to the Church in Collosae in Colossians 2:
Therefore, do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food or drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths
If Ash Wednesday helps you, do it! And if you haven’t been before I encourage you to find a service near you.
If you’d like to learn more about liturgical worship, subscribe to learn more. This is part of a series on Liturgical Churches. Find part one here and see the next article here when it is published.