Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday
Psalm 51:1-3, 10-12
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And put a new and right spirit within me. (v.10)

I started attending Ash Wednesday services several years ago, almost because I had to. Or, you could say that I got paid to go to Ash Wednesday services. Actually, the reason I started going to the services was because I was a pastor and the church where I was serving had a tradition of Ash Wednesday services, and I wanted to continue that tradition.

The printed services for Ash Wednesday suggest that the leader say one or more phrases when putting the ashes on people’s foreheads. The two that are suggested in the United Methodist Hymnal are, “ Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”, and, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”. I must confess that I was never comfortable with using the phrase about dust. It just seemed too dark and deadly to me. And so, I repeated the phrase about repentance and believing when I conducted Ash Wednesday services.

Usually Ash Wednesday is a time to focus directly on self-knowledge. In the Scripture lesson, King David makes a brutally honest confession. He does not make excuses. “I know my transgression, and my sin is ever before me.” A modern author writes about our tendency to avoid self-knowledge. “We are always perpetually smoothing and rearranging reality to conform to our wishes; we lie to others and ourselves constantly, unthinkingly. When occasionally we are forced to see things as they are, we are like naked people in a storm.” We tell ourselves that if we are not hurting anyone, then what we do is ok. If no one knows, or if everybody else is doing it, then what we do is nobody else’s business.

King David, the writer of Psalm 51 learned to see sin as God sees it, as an offense against the God who created us. Ash Wednesday calls us to look at our sin and the sin of the whole human race. If we take an honest look at ourselves we will see that we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s expectations for us.

The good news is that when we are honest with ourselves, we are able to welcome and receive the mercy of God. We can remember that God is gracious and forgiving. David wrote this as he began the Psalm: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your lovingkindness…”. When we remember that God is a loving and forgiving God, we realize that we don’t need to defend ourselves, or lie to ourselves, or pretend to be sinless people. We can be honest with ourselves and with God. And when we confess our sins, God shows us mercy, and forgives us.

The honest truth is that we are all sinners. The good news is that in the name of Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Repent and believe in the Gospel.