Being able to focus our lives and our worship around the church calendar is an ongoing act of looking to Christ. We begin our year with the season of Advent, awaiting with anticipation the joy and longing of Christ’s Incarnation to break forth. And then we feast and fellowship in the season of Christmas for 12 days before entering into Epiphany. In the season of Epiphany, we seek to see where Christ is being revealed and acknowledge Jesus, the light of life that is coming and has come into the world. We end Epiphany with the peak of Christ’s glory being radiated in the Transfiguration, fully God and fully man. And though we are in this pattern every year, I’m always surprised at how quickly we arrive at the beginning of Lent, to Ash Wednesday where we somberly remember that from dust we have come, and to dust we will return.
On page 689 of our Book of Common Prayer, we read that today is set apart for discipline, denial, and special prayer. It states, “Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, and Good Friday, the day of our Lord’s crucifixion, are traditionally days of special devotion and total abstinence.”
Now if you are anything like me, that feels really extreme. I mean, woah. A little too rigid for our culture these days, which many times is more a Burger King spirituality--“have it your way”. Nothing too legalistic or with too many rules or requests of self-denial, please and thank you.
And yet, ironically enough, I’ve heard from many people over the years that Ash Wednesday is one of their favorite services of the year. And though I am one to fully lean into celebration, it has actually become one of my favorite days and services of the year. There is something that feels particularly sacred about the act of having something that has come from the ground, set to fire and returned to dust and ash, be physically put onto our body and carried with us as we leave. This reminder that we are temporary and this body is not our eternal home is something that I have come to need to be reminded of annually.
Over the last few years, I’ve come to the age where I need my reader glasses to see anything small up close. And a lot of the time when I’m in front of the mirror, I obviously don’t have my glasses on because I’m doing things like washing my face or brushing my teeth, nothing that I really need glasses for. However, a few weeks ago, I happened to still have my reading glasses on when I was washing my hands. And, as I looked in the mirror I saw all of these tiny little wrinkles on my face! That I just KNOW, had not been there before! And I realized, with my glasses on, I could see so much more clearly how my skin has aged over the last few years!
It may be a silly example, but in a way, entering into Lent, allows us to do exactly this--to see a little more clearly, the truth of who we are and the beauty of whose we are.
As we enter into the season of Lent, I have found that the words in our Ash Wednesday collect, are the exact framework to help us enter into the season. The collect reminds us that only God is the “Almighty and everlasting” one, and we are not. We are not in control of the world, nor can we be. We were made by Him, and the number of days that he allows us to live are completely up to him. We are finite and unknowing of so much, which is why, as we enter into Lent we remind ourselves, that only He is almighty and everlasting.
The collect also reminds us that he “hates nothing he has made”, including us and even our enemies. And, as we remember this love he has for us and the world, may we extend that love and grace to ourselves and those around us. This is central to understanding more of how we can pray for those around us, and our world, as we are devoting more time this season to prayer and fasting for the oppressed, those suffering, and the downtrodden. May we too have this perspective to hate nothing that He has made.
Then, we ask for God to “create in us new and contrite hearts”, that seek to serve the world around us with the humility and grace that only comes from Him. Putting on this new heart, may we then seek to “worthily lament” the things in us and in this world that are not as they should be, so that we might be able to receive His transforming mercy that gives the gift of “perfect remission and forgiveness”.
Finally, we remember that during this season of Lent, anything we offer up as a sacrifice or offering, is only because it is done “through Jesus Christ our Lord”. Our striving and earning is not what God is after during this season. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit long to reveal love, grace, mercy and peace to us through Jesus Christ.
This season, as you carve out times of prayer, fasting, or giving to others, let it not be because we’re trying to accomplish something or check off an obligatory task. Anything we offer up to the Lord this season, may it be done “through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.”
May we enter into this beautiful season remembering that it is all by Him, and for Him, and in Him, that we do any of this. May His love hold you fast this season of Lent, and always. Amen.
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Rev. Dcn. Melissa Lewkowicz is in charge of Next Generation Leadership and Event Planning for the Diocese of Christ Our Hope. Much of her time is spent planning and directing the Booyah camps throughout the year.