Ash Wednesday is coming March 5th. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent (the 40 days, excluding Sundays, leading up to Easter) during which Christians have traditionally practiced more intentional prayer, fasting (from food or anything that we enjoy in excess in life) and alms giving (acts of service to the poor and less fortunate).

Why do we do this? And why does it all begin with Ashes?

Lent is patterned after Jesus’ wilderness wandering, during which he fasts and faces several temptations. As we follow in Jesus’ footsteps and practice disciplines of emptying, we understand better the sacrificial nature of who he was and who he calls us to be.

The focused practice of prayer makes needed room in our lives for the living presence of God. We live in a complicated, fast-moving, over-programmed world where we routinely make no room for God. To be intentional about making room for prayer for 40 days can be nothing short of life changing, and will certainly bring you to a different understanding and experience of Easter.

The practices of fasting and alms giving are important to help us recognizes the excesses in our lives and the need to connect with others through the sharing of our resources.

What Fire Cannot Burn

The Lenten season begins with the Ashes. “Ashes,” writes Sara Miles in City of God: Faith in the Streets, “are what a fire cannot burn. What’s left over after a fire, or from a life.” On Ash Wednesday, participants are marked with the sign of the cross on the forehead as these words are said, “remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”  The ashes come from the burned Palm fronds of last year’s Palm Sunday celebration–a reminder that Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem ends in a trial, unjust conviction and execution.

Ash Wednesday is a time to pause and remember that we are mortal. Beyond our triumphs, our worldly goods, our money, our children, our houses, our cars, our jobs, our titles, our wealth, our status…we are all, in the end, mortal.

Why Ashes? Because in the end, that’s what is left…what the fire cannot consume.  Ash Wednesday sets us on a reflective journey of letting go and opening our hands empty. For it is in this empty place that God in Christ will enter and bring hope: The hope of new life that is most fully known in resurrection, most fully known only after we have walked through the valley of the shadow of death.

Deepening Your Easter Experience

If you are looking for a more meaningful way to experience Easter this year…if you are spiritually hungering for something more…please consider stopping by to receive the marking of the Ashes on Wednesday, March 5th at 7 a.m., noon and 7  p.m. in the Church Sanctuary. We will also have a prayer labyrinth set up all day in our Fellowship Hall 7 a.m.-8 p.m. for quiet walking and praying.

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