The Day After

How long do you wear the ash smudge on your forehead once you have left the Ash Wednesday service?  Some have asked as if there is some liturgically correct amount of time the sign of mortality should be worn.  I have seen the mark of the cross literally being wiped off as the wearer exits the door and I have run into folks in the afternoon who told me that got theirs at the early morning service before going to work. 

 

Some folks think it is pretentious to wear a sign on your forehead which might be seen by others as pious.  Others wear the ashes as a witness to their faith in Christ.  There is, of course, no proper time to wear the black smudge.  The ashes contain no spiritual power, but are simply signs that point toward repentance and mortality.  Not all churches observe the practice.  As I was growing up it was almost unheard of in the Protestant church communities and was seen as something which was observed only in the Roman Catholic tradition.

Fortunately, times have changed and it is a service more widely practiced now than it was in earlier years.  As one who came to the ritual late, it has proven to be a holy moment of connecting to a tradition that is filled with spiritual power.  As we go to receive the ashes, the line of believers may go from the back pew to the altar, but for those who look more closely, a line may be seen that extends from centuries ago to the present age.  Those in this line are invisible to the unseeing eye, but for those who have eyes to see it is like seeing those who have gone on before and who are now gathered in the heavenly place as a part of that great crowd of witnesses.