CROSSES OF ASH
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Joel 2:12-16 (NRSV)
Yet even now, says the LORD,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the LORD, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing.
Who knows whether he will not
turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the LORD, your God?
Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
gather the people.
Sanctify the congregation;
assemble the aged;
gather the children,
even infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her canopy.
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Your maxims are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay.
- Job 13:12 (NRSV)
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MY favorite worship service in our church is the one conducted at noon on Ash Wednesday. The reverent simplicity and brevity stir my soul, but the service moves me for other reasons, too. At its conclusion those present are invited to the altar to have crosses marked in ash on their foreheads.
When a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ marks my forehead with a cross, the Lenten message of repentance and change stirs my spirit. Lent can be a doorway through which we move toward Holy Week, the Crucifixion, and celebration of Christ's resurrection. For my wife and me, each Easter is also a doorway to the poignant memory of the death of our son, Bill, one Easter morning in a fire.
Job told his accuser, "Your maxims are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay." Job was right then, but now on Ash Wednesday the cross drawn on my forehead signifies real value, eternal value, a price paid for everyone, including Bill. And it turns me toward the promise of resurrection -- for this life and in the life to come.
Prayer: Thank you, God, for your steadfast love and limitless grace. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Resurrection from a life of ashes is possible every day.
-- John Eyberg (Oklahoma, U.S.A.)
PRAYER FOCUS: To see lent as a road to resurrection