Encore Post: Ash Wednesday works like a kind of speed bump in the lives of Christians. After celebrating the birth of Jesus, hearing how God revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, and seeing him in his full glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, we’re tempted to bask in the glory of God’s grace and love. Yet still our stubborn Old Adam or Old Eve clings to us and threatens to take over our lives. Lest we forget, Lent comes to help us discipline ourselves, repent of our sin, and live life, trusting in God and his promises. Ash Wednesday greets us with the words God spoke to Adam — and to us — when imposing the curse that resulted from the first sin: “Remember that you are dust and to the dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19)
This phrase is a part of the ancient discipline of remembering mortality. (Memento mori — “Remember death”) It is the conscious meditation on the cold, hard truth that all the pleasures and blessings of life are temporary and that death comes to all of us, often suddenly. Ash Wednesday calls on us to pause what we are doing and consider the damage our sin does in our lives, both now and eternally. The collect for the day sets the tone: “Almighty and everlasting God, You despise nothing You have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create in us new and contrite hearts that lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness we may receive from You full pardon and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.”
Repentance is more than saying you’re sorry. The Greek word the New Testament uses for repentance is μετάνοια, which means “to completely change your mind.” It includes recognizing your sins, being sorry for them, and stopping doing them. All of this is only possible for Christians because it is the work of the Holy Spirit that makes us holy. Ash Wednesday wakes us up, reminds us how to use the disciplines of fasting, prayer, and meditation, and gives us the forgiveness of sins through confession, absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. It sets the tone for our forty-day meditation. It marks our sorrow with the ashes of the palms from the previous Palm Sunday and with the sign of the Holy Cross, reminding us of the redemption that is ours in the passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus.
May God grant you a blessed meditation on the suffering and death of Jesus so that you will be well prepared to celebrate with joy the coming Easter celebration.
Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog
The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack
Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana
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