An Ash Wednesday Reflection

We are officially in the season of Lent. A season of reflection and penitence.

It is the time that Israel spent in the wilderness after the miraculous Exodus from enslavement to Egypt through the crossing of the Red Sea.

It is the time that Jesus spent fasting and praying after his baptism.

It is the time of preparation leading to Holy Week and a time of catechesis for the unbaptized, leading to their baptism into new life and the people of God and their first reception of Christ’s own body and blood in the Eucharist.

That being said, Ash Wednesday came and went. It’s a somber day known to all, even if you fall outside a church that practices the tradition. In fact, over the years I have known many churches who either don’t have an Ash Wednesday service, but still encourage people to find a church that does and attend, or who don’t follow the Church year, but still hold an Ash Wednesday. It is a day of great humility and a reminder through the imposition of ashes on one's forehead that from “dust we came and to dust we will return.” Everything about the day reminds us of our own humility.

But it does so by showing us the humility of Christ as well.

The ashes are traditionally made from burning the palm leaves used on Palm Sunday the previous year. This is humbling when we think that these Palm branches, which were thrown down to greet Jesus, the savior of the world, during his entrance into Jerusalem, crying “Hosanna,” was the greatest exultation he received during his earthly ministry.

However, this “triumphant” entry quickly turned sour as he eventually was led down a very different road carrying his own cross of execution. These leaves are then burned, turned to ash, and used to mark the followers with the symbol of his death.

Why do I say all this?

Well, this year I have seen a proliferation of “selfie” posts from Ash Wednesday, showing off cross-shaped ashes all over social media. Some look as though they are seeking to show their somber mood due to the service, contorting their faces this way and that. Others seem to have an ironically large smile as if to show some excitement about the unique service they attended. Either way, there is something fundamentally odd about a public post to show what they’ve done or that they are fasting and participating in this penitent and preparatory season. It certainly seems to lack the mark of humility that the season is about.

Of course, I can’t speak to the people’s heart behind their posts, but the facade of the post doesn’t speak to the humble and contrite heart that the person may have. And this should give us pause.

But if all this sounds like I am simply judging, let me speak one more word of warning about such posts.

As I mentioned, many have taken to putting together an Ash Wednesday service even if they are outside of any tradition that follows the church calendar and the corollary lectionary readings. However, this poses a great problem, because these seasons and these special days of the church’s calendar are not merely memorial, but instructive.

As mentioned above, Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent is undoubtedly no exception since it is the very season of catechetical instruction and preparation for one’s baptism. Had this vital aspect of the season been respected, one would have read Matthew 6:1-6; 16-21 during the service, as it is the Gospel lesson for Ash Wednesday every single year, I quote it here in full (NRSV):

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

² “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ³ But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁵ “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶ But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

¹⁶ “And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So, it seems odd that we would seemingly ignore the instructive words of Christ— during this season of humility and penitence—by not only doing these things publicly, not washing our faces, and keeping our ashes on our head to display them for all our followers to see.

For, if we remember that it is to dust that we will return, then we should remember that so too will our social media legacy and internet following turn to dust.

-R