Lenten Meditations: Ash Wednesday

Feb 10, 2016 by Jill

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Ash Wednesday

LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY:  In the Christian tradition Lent formally appeared in A.D. 325 after the Council of Nicaea but it was the Anglo-Saxon Benedictine monk Aelfric, who tied the practice, to the season prior to the observation of Pascha/Easter. To the monks he wrote: “Now let us do this little at the beginning of our Lent that we strew ashes upon our heads to signify that we ought to repent of our sins during the Lenten fast.” Certainly by the 11th century, the practice was widespread throughout the church until the Reformation. Many Christians see it as an imitation of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting and battling with Satan in the desert.

Ash Wednesday is a Western Christian tradition. For those belonging to Eastern Orthodox churches, Lent starts on the Monday after Ash Wednesday. Known as Clean Monday, the date falls seven weeks before Easter.  The idea of starting the fast on Monday, the first day of the week, acts as a reminder to start the Lenten season with the intention of spiritually purifying oneself.  Christians in the Eastern and Oriental traditions follow stricter fasting rules during this time where they refrain from meat, eggs and dairy products There are 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, but most churches in the West don’t count the Sundays as part of Lent.
MEDITATION OF THE DAY:  There is no mention of Ash Wednesday in the Bible. But there is a tradition of donning ashes as a sign of penitence that predates the time of Christ. In the Old Testament, Job repents “in dust and ashes,” and there are other associations of ashes and repentance in Esther, Samuel, Isaiah and Jeremiah. That being said the first lesson from Book of Joel is a clear proclamation to the people of God that the Day of the Lord has arrived. It is no ordinary day for the central focus of this day is a call for God’s people to repent, rending their hearts not their clothes, and to submit to God in fasting and prayer, in the hopes that God will show mercy. When you consider the scope of this lesson and that it was written perhaps almost 700+ years before Ash Wednesday is part of the life of the Christian Church it seems to affirm the power of God’s Word for all time. The simple message of this text and all the Scriptures this day is that these ashes, reminds us of our mortality. While this is a message some do not wish to hear because it deemphasizes physical human lives, but, in fact, it does not. Rather, it reminds us that we are more than just dust and ash, but that all human beings are divinely created and eternally valuable. As such, then, Ash Wednesday calls us to honor and celebrate our authentic humanity and to “live up” to our best selves who were made in God’s image.

PRAYER OF THE DAY:  Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lenten Discipline – Keep a Solemn or Simple Fast, using the money for the Mite Box and the time spent eating pondering the plight of the Syrian Christians who are starving as they flee for safety and who are being exterminated for their Christian Faith.

Ancient

ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: “He who is master of possessions, is the slave of passions. Do not estimate gold and silver only as possessions, but all things thou possess for the sake of the desire of thy will”. — St. Isaac the Syrian, from “Six Treatise on the Behavior of Excellence”

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