Ash Wednesday

Somehow, each year Ash Wednesday catches me by surprise.

Often the suddenness of needing to plan for Lent is what catches me off guard. But this year, with six (or was it seven?) Sundays in the Epiphany season, I was ready for the service planning, and ready with the service music.

Instead, what struck me this year was how essential contrasts are to the very being of Ash Wednesday. The contrasts are many:
~the usual, ebullient mood of the congregation before worship begins, contrasted with the solemnity of Psalm 51 with which the service starts ("Have mercy on me, O God...")
~the Gospel reading from Matthew warning against external displays of devotion in order to be seen making them, contrasted with the subsequent signing of ashen crosses on foreheads
~the comfortable, beloved hymns (such as "Just As I Am"), contrasted with the reading from Joel warning of the darkness of the day of the Lord
~the disparity between our cultural messages of self-importance, and the declaration "Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

In this past year, I feel that I have truly begun to internalize the importance of God's grace in a way that I haven't before: By God's grace salvation has been achieved for us. As Bishop Miller teaches, "All that I am, and all that I have comes by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone."

So when I encountered the Ash Wednesday text "Dust you are and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19), the contrast of sin and grace was brought into sharp relief. What is this "dust" stuff, I almost wanted to cry out (which certainly would've surprised my family)--don't we know that by grace we are made to be more than dust?!

Why this emphasis on dust? On repentance? On ashes?

It took me some time, but now I think I understand: this is the greatest contrast of all in Ash Wednesday: the need to remember our sinfulness and to repent sincerely while relying on (and knowing our complete ability to rely upon) the grace of God. God has won the battle, Easter has happened; but on Ash Wednesday we remember the sinfulness that made Easter necessary and the grace that leads us through the Easter resurrection.