Ash Wednesday 2024

One of the things I appreciate about being an Episcopalian is the Revised Common Lectionary. That is, the source from which we get our scripture readings. I don’t get to choose the readings from week to week, which keeps me from starting from whatever message I want to give and finding the text that fits. Instead, I start from the scriptures for the day and find what the Spirit is saying to me through that text. Our Sunday readings are on a three-year cycle, so each set of lessons occurs once every three years. During the Season after Pentecost there are two Old Testament choices, but that is as close as we get to “choosing” - and even then we pick a track, either “Gospel related” or “semicontinuous”, and stick with it for the year. For Christmas there are options, Easter cycles and provides options on top of the usual Year A, B, and C. But Ash Wednesday lessons are the same. Every year. That is, there is no three year lectionary cycle. 

Every year, on this fast day, the prophet Joel reminds us to repent and return to the Lord. The psalmist then reminds us of God’s mercy. The apostle Paul reminds us not to accept God’s grace in vain. And finally, the evangelist Matthew reminds us that where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also.

I’m always struck by the Matthew reading. How Jesus says, “beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” Then we have the imposition of ashes  on our foreheads - pretty visible - and go about our days. It feels a bit like “sounding a trumpet before (us)". Paradoxically, the Prayer Book couples this caution with the imposition of ashes. It’s almost like the Committee on Liturgy knew that what we do here today could seem self-congratulatory - that even if we see the ashes through the light of repentance, we might be tempted to congratulate ourselves on our trip to the rail. And so we are being asked to hold these texts, the liturgy for the imposition of ashes and the lesson from Matthew, in tension with one another.

In a moment, we will be invited to have ashes imposed. Not to have ashes given, like at the Eucharist, but imposed. What is an imposition? The laying on of something as a burden or obligation, or an unusual or extraordinarily burdensome requirement or task. In its original usage, the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday was for those admitted to public penance, to last until reconciliation on Maundy Thursday. It was later extended to all the faithful. Do we experience Ash Wednesday as an imposition?

Oftentimes on Ash Wednesday I find myself forgetting I have the ashes on my forehead. Then when I happen to look in the mirror, I do a double take. This Ash Wednesday, I am asking myself, do I behave differently when I know I have the ashes made from last year’s Palm Sunday crosses that we jubilantly waved on my forehead?

Are those ashes a reminder to myself that I am a sinner in need of repentance and renewal? And then am I mindful to truly repent - to turn around, to change? Do I drive more courteously? Do I tip better? Am I more patient? And if I can do those things with the reminder of the ashes, what is keeping me from doing them without the smudge on my forehead? The only thing different about me today, if you are following me around in a Truman Show kind of way, should be the smudge on my forehead. As I walk through this season of reflection and repentance I will be grappling with these questions and turning to God for answers and the strength to reorient from self to God, to repent - to change. If I am not willing to try to find a deeper me, a more honest me, and ultimately a me who is closer to who God is calling me to be, perhaps today is only about receiving my visible reward. If so, maybe I should wash my face.


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