Pondering Ash Wednesday

 

From dust you were formed and from dust you shall return.
  Genesis 3:19 (NKJ)

The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. Lent is a 40-Day journey that spiritually prepares me to celebrate Easter. So I gather in the sanctuary with loved ones for a quiet and solemn Ash Wednesday service. 

During the service, I'm reminded that ashes represent mourning and repentance. And in the ancient world ashes were used for cleansing in the absence of soap. Fields were burned to give a chance for new life. 

And so, I'm invited to ponder my human condition . . . my sins of commission, my sins of omission and even those of my disposition. Such pondering brings me face to face with my own mortality. Especially when the pastor applies damp ashes to my forehead and declares: From dust you were formed and from dust you shall return.  Repent and believe the Gospel.

The quietness in the sanctuary is lovely. The history lesson is nice, too, but I don't like pondering sin. Especially my own. I like worship services to comfort and encourage. So I open my Bible to Psalm 103, a family favorite chock-full of declaration about God's love. The verses leap straight into my soul.

Yet, in the spirit of Ash Wednesday, the psalmist declares: 

For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. 

                                                                        Psalm 103:14

By ancient design God created me (Genesis 1:27; 2:7).  He is acquainted with all my ways (Psalm 139:3).  He knows the best I try to be. He knows the worst I often am. He is familiar with the failings of my introverted disposition. And that stings. Yet I'm told these are fitting thoughts for the Lenten season because I'm reminded that I need a Savior.

How grateful I am that my Savior arrived at just the right time (Luke 2:11; Galatians 4:4,5).  And because of what He accomplished on the cross, my sins all lie beneath the ancient ashes. Their power over me is no more. This is a deep and wonderful truth that I'm prone to forget.

So maybe, Ash Wednesday is comforting and encouraging in its own way. A way worthy of my pondering.

First published in The Valdosta Daily Times, February 22, 2020 edition.