Ash Wednesday - To Be "Eastered"???

A cartoon in a recent New Yorker shows an elderly woman using two canes to keep herself balanced exiting the front door of her church.  A much younger (40ish) clergyman stands by the open front door to greet her—and possibly assist her down the six steps to the walkway.  She smiles and thanks him with these words, “Thank you, Reverend, your sermon has me super-excited about croaking.”

            As we begin keeping a holy Lent by attending this Ash Wednesday service, we are encouraged to think about—to use the elderly woman’s word—“croaking.”  When I smear an ashen cross on your forehead, I will say the words, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”  Theologians dress up this concept with the word “finitude,” which means, of course, each us will come to the end of our earthly life.

            A lot of anxiety may crop up in our minds when we are forced to face our own mortality.  How? When? Will it be painful?  We usually turn away from considering such difficult thoughts.  We fill our lives with busy-ness or try to escape with alcohol or drugs or something else to distract ourselves.

            The words we hear and speak on Ash Wednesday tell us there is no escaping our finitude, no other way in the end but “croaking.”  But as Christians, we believe that though we die, because of Jesus Christ, yet shall we live.  Or as the preacher Tony Campolo says, “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming.” 

            On this day we might echo Tony Campolo and say, “It’s Ash Wednesday, but Easter’s coming.”  This day we honor the fact that our lives on this earth will end by offering all that we are RIGHT NOW—including our fears and our sins—to the Holy One who created us and who loves us.  With this offering of ourselves we are acting out of faith, not fear—faith that God’s reign, which began with Jesus, will finally triumph over all evil and all death.  For in the age to come there will be no more finitude, but life everlasting!

            The theologian, Walter Brueggemann, wrote a poem entitled, “Marked by Ashes,” that depicts the relationship between today and the Day of Resurrection.  In it he uses the word “Easter” in a most interesting way—as a verb—“to Easter.”  Let’s listen to his thoughts, as we ponder what this day means and how we can keep a holy Lent.

Marked by Ashes

Ruler of the Night, Guarantor of the day . . .

This day—a gift from you.

This day—like none other you have ever given, or we have ever received.

This Wednesday dazzles us with gift and newness and possibility.

            halfway back to committees and memos,

halfway back to calls and appointments,

halfway on to next Sunday,

halfway back, half frazzled, half expectant, half,

turned toward you, half rather not.

This Wednesday is a long way from Ash Wednesday,

                         [of course, I am reading this on Ash Wednesday]

   but all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes—

      we begin this day with that taste of ash in our mouth: 

        of failed hope and broken promises,

        of forgotten children and frightened women, 

  we ourselves are ashes to ashes, dust to dust; 

  we can taste our morality as we roll the ash around on our tongues.

We are able to ponder our ashness

with some confidence, only because our every Wednesday of ashes
anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky, taste of death.

On this Wednesday, we submit our ashesn way to you—

    You Easter parade of newness.

     Before the sun sets, take our Wednesday and Easter us,

          Easter us to joy and energy and courage and freedom;

          Easter us that we may be fearless for your truth.

     Come here and Easter our Wednesday with

          mercy and just and peace and generosity.

We pray as we wait for the Risen One who comes soon.

         So as we enter this holy season of Lent, we remember the traditional practices of the season: prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  Yes, we do these things at other times, but during Lent we try to do them with special intention.  We do them to show repentance, but we should not do them in fear of damnation.  Let us ask God “to Easter” what we do to keep this Lent, so we do not do them in fear, but in the hope of Resurrection and Eternal Life.  May God bless your keeping of a Holy Lent.

“Marked by Ashes” by Walter Brueggemann from Prayers for a Privileged People (Nashville: Abingdon, 2008) p. 27-8.