Ash Wednesday: A Rookie Anglican Guide
What is Ash Wednesday?
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the forty days of Lent. Since biblical times, ash has symbolized repentance and mourning. Since the early centuries of the Church, Christians have been preparing for Easter by walking through a “Holy Lent,” patterned after Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. By the 6th century A.D., ashes were used in public acts of penance. By the 10th century, the custom of placing ashes on the foreheads of all believers on the first day of Lent became widespread.
Lent is a season of repentance, fasting, and self-reflection. Of course, all of this happens with the sure knowledge of God’s love and grace to us through Christ. Lent and Ash Wednesday are in no way about condemnation. They are a time in which human beings, given a pronouncement of forgiveness and absolution through Christ, can be honest with God, ourselves, and each other. With the terror of judgment removed, we can speak the truth.
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The Imposition of Ashes
Ash Wednesday is when Christians gather to receive the imposition of ashes. From biblical times, ashes on the head have signified repentance. Job said, “I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6), and Daniel, on behalf of the people of God, writes,
Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.”
Daniel 9:3-5
Ashes also represent mourning, as Tamar in the Old Testament used them to mourn her abuse, which was not in any way her fault, but which devastated her.
Ashes are the result of burning. This burning in our lives is from our own sins and follies and the abuse of others, and ashes represent both. They remind us that we are living in this mortal world, this fallen world, and that we are made from dust, when all else is burned away. We are mortal and will return to our maker.
(Note: for a “dust-focused” reflection on the Collect for Ash Wednesday, click here.)
Christians believe, rightly, that God is good and that he loves us. We believe that through Christ’s death and resurrection, we can be forgiven and “boldly go before the throne of grace.” We know that even though we don’t understand exactly how God will make the world’s wrongs right, he will.
Yet we live in a time in which all of those promises have not yet been fulfilled. We feel the pain of sin and brokenness. Ash Wednesday and Lent remind us that we still live in this fallen world and that we are a part of that fallenness. No one is free of sin. It gives us permission, in fact, it calls us, to acknowledge the reality we see within ourselves and around us.
How do I observe Ash Wednesday?
Attend an Ash Wednesday Service
Go to an Ash Wednesday service at your local Anglican Church (even if you’re not a member, you’re welcome!). If one isn’t available near you, try a Lutheran or Roman Catholic Church on Ash Wednesday. Or find another type of church with an “Ash Wednesday” service. None of the traditions listed here require that you be a member to participate in the Ash Wednesday service. We’re all in need of a journey of repentance together. Just note that Orthodox churches (Greek, Russian, etc.) have slightly different calendars, so they often observe Lent in somewhat different ways and at different times.
Lean into the Focus on Repentance
The readings include warnings from Isaiah about fasts that God loves. That God wants us to free the oppressed and to walk in justice. They will include Christ commanding us not to do our fasting to be seen by others.
The service will remind us that we are mortal and that we must repent. You will be invited to come forward and to kneel. A minister will impose ashes upon your forehead, usually saying, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” recalling God’s pronouncement upon Adam in Genesis 3:19.
The service will be reverent and quiet. It is intended to be stark.
During the service, you will be called upon to join with the whole Church in a Holy Lent. To pray that God will open our eyes to see that we can be honest with him, and repent. To see that we can tell him of our pain, and sorrow, and that he understands. He knows because Christ, God himself in the flesh, walked through his own wilderness, and then walked beyond that to the cross.
Fast
Fast on Ash Wednesday by eating only one full meal and two small portions, with no meat all day.
Fasting is not for those under 14, over 60, or in poor health. If you can’t fast, give up meat or something else that day. Fasting directs our attention to our need for God and follows Christ’s example. It is an act of penitence, meaning a demonstration of heartfelt repentance.
Our Ash Wednesday Hope
May your Ash Wednesday be one in which God’s grace so comforts you that you can freely acknowledge your failings and faults with the sure knowledge that you are his child and that he loves you.
Want to learn more? Read these posts about Lent.
- Lent: A Rookie Anglican Guide
- How to Lent and Why: Questions for an Anglican Priest
- Fasting for Lent
- Fasting and Feasting in Lent
- An Intentional Lent
Photo by Jennifer Balaska, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
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