I did not grow up receiving ashes at the start of Lent. My first exposure to the blackened sign of the cross on the forehead was in college. But though I attended a Lutheran school, my religion at the time was baseball. So, I did not participate.
In seminary, we held weekly chapel on Wednesdays, so the imposition of ashes was a natural fit. A favorite professor pressed his ashy thumb to my forehead and reminded me that I was made of dust and to dust I would return. I was 25 years old at the time, in love with a fellow seminary student, and did not reflect on my mortality… until that very moment I received the ashes. The feeling remained with me long after I had washed my face.
During my first Lent as a pastor, I had been at the church for less than a year, which is just long enough to get away with doing something brand new. Though no one could remember having an Ash Wednesday service, an older farmer spoke for the general consensus, “Andrew, we figure you know what you are doing.”
Ah, famous last words!
Though I had received ashes in seminary, I had never given them. I did not know that you have to add a little olive oil to make the ashes stick together. Otherwise, the ashes will escape your fingertips in little puffs and get into the eyes of your trusting parishioners!
There is more than one way to reflect on humility with ashes.
This year, like most everything in the pandemic, Ash Wednesday will be different for many of us. The church I now serve will celebrate the service over a Zoom video conference, which means that each worshipper will have to bring not only their own communion elements but also their own ash! Just in case this is true for you, gentle reader, allow me offer brief instructions.
- Find ash. Traditionally, the palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday are burned, but you can use any ash available — for example, the residue from a burnt candle wick or cork, char from a burnt piece of paper, or even dust/dirt from the earth.
- Sift ash into a bowl using a fine mesh sieve. This is actually a cool trick of the trade, folks — I’m really pulling back the curtain for you!
- Add one drop of olive oil. Mix. Repeat as necessary. What you want is for the ash to stick together and have the consistency of paste.
Not everything is different in the pandemic. After each person individually imposes ashes, I will say the same words that I did learn in seminary: Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.
I dare say that we shall long remember this particular service.
