The Message of Ashes

Lent does not begin with a party.  Neither does it lead us to a party.  It begins with ashes and ends with a cross.  It has been a week now since the church gathered for a service of the imposition of ashes.  Of course, not all churches have such a service.  It is too Roman Catholic for some Protestant communities and too morbid for others.  I remember a guy who found himself at one of those Ash Wednesday services in my past and came to me afterwards with his ashes on his forehead to say, "That was the most depressing thing I have ever done at church!"     

The ashes must have been a surprise to him and even though I spoke about the meaning of them in the message of the evening, he was still surprised....and depressed.  It is understandable.  It is not every day that someone stands inside our comfort zone, looks us in the eye, and tells us we are going to die which is exactly what happens when we hear those words, "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return."  We do not always know what to think about those words, or what to do with that dark symbol of our mortality which is worn on our forehead for everyone to see.    

The truth is Ash Wednesday makes most folks uncomfortable because there is no place we go where we are told without any attempt to make it easy to hear that we are destined to die.  It is a message we generally do not expect to hear at church because in these days successful churches work to make us feel good and there is nothing about those ashes which gives us a warm fuzzy feeling.  What they do give us is an awareness that our life is not really in our hands, it is in God's hands.  It remind us that there is an end as surely as there was a beginning.  And, it speaks to our need to make the best use of the days we have as we possibly can.  To realize we are going to die one day may be the best impetus to live today well.