Washing Off the Ashes

Fr. Chris wrote an interesting post on the issue of washing off the ashes after Ash Wednesday. I happened to preach on exactly the same thing at our Ash Wednesday Masses at St. Paul's. Here are some excerpts from my homily:


Ash Wednesday is uncomfortable for some people. I suspect it has a lot to do with today’s Gospel and it’s warning, “Beware of practicing your piety before others,” and the fact that we are then sent out with the visible sign of the cross on our foreheads. One church I know goes so far as to have moist towelettes available at the door!

But Ash Wednesday is uncomfortable for other reasons, too. My first few years as an Episcopalian I cringed each time the priest marked my forehead with ashes and told me to “Remember that you are dust, and to dust shall you return.”

But as my life changed, I heard Ash Wednesday differently. When I began to deal with the death of loved ones, this reminder of mortality changed for me. “Remember that you are dust, and to dust shall you return.” It became a sort of comfort to remember that I was—am—dust, to be reminded that it is the way of all flesh to return to the earth, and finally, to our Creator.

Lent, and especially Ash Wednesday, keeps us honest. We can’t hide from the fact that we are mortal, formed of the earth, and that we will return to the dust. We can’t hide from the fact that Scripture warns us against being pious for the sake of being seen, and at the same time expects us to practice our faith and to not be ashamed of it. The Christian faith is full of tension. Our Lord said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light,” but he also said, “He who does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Ash Wednesday brings the tension of the Christian faith to the forefront of our minds. The three Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving force us to ponder these things. What are our obligations as Christians, and as a Christian community? What do we need to take on and what do we need to let go? How do we live the life of faith? These are the questions Lent brings, questions steeped in tension and complexity, and we need to take them seriously.

The Good News for us is that even though Lent brings tensions and questions about how we are called to live out our faith, it also brings us the promise that through all the spiritual work—and because of that work—we eventually come to resurrection, deep in the heart of God.