Lent’s proper focus is not to wallow in the death of flesh. We acknowledge the areas of our lives that need a new touch of Holy Spirit, cleansing and healing us, so we can fully revel in the life of Christ provided through his righteousness. This righteousness was given to us by His death, resurrection, and ascension. He redeemed our corruptible flesh with his Righteous and incorruptible Life, and invited us to be united to Himself.
When you receive the ashen cross on your forehead next Wednesday, remember it is a symbol of the whole story. It is dust, yes, but it’s also a cross! Redemption! Through the death symbolized in the ashes, we remember the Cross that brought us eternal life in God.
If you forget this whole story, just focusing on the sin, there is an error that could be made that completely misses the point. This is why the practice of ashes wasn’t always received by the Fathers and Mothers of our tradition before us. For years, the practice of the imposition of ashes on a worshipers forehead was not embraced by the Anglican Tradition. Thomas Cramner, the writer of the first Book of Common Prayer, and on which all subsequent editions are based, had a distaste for the practice of placing ash on ones forehead, as did the reformer Martin Luther.
Steven Wedgeworth says in his thoughtful article on the history of Ash Wednesday in the Anglican tradition, “In fact, the imposition of ashes is not included in any Book of Common Prayer until the American 1979 BCP.” (No Ashes to Ashes: An Anglican History of Ash Wednesday by Steven Wedgeworth). Today, however, I’m glad most liturgical traditions embrace this practice, including recently some more contemporary churches, trying to become more liturgical.
So why the hesitancy to embrace the practice of receiving ashes? Because these church leaders never wanted us to confuse the acts of penitence during Lent as the cause of our Redemption, and neither do we. We can however, hold this paradox – Life through the conquering of Death.
It’s so easy to embrace a “works righteousness” mentality when we get into the traditions of the church. When we see our acts of penitence as redemptive in themselves, we risk taking away from Christ’s completed act of redemption on the cross.
So how are we to view both the receiving of ashes and the other acts of Lent like fasting, giving, and prayer in a right way? We need to view them as a means to knowing the God of Redemption more intimately by making room for Him. As Trevor Hudson puts it in “Pauses for Lent”, the devotional guide we will be going through together on Wednesday nights:
