Ash Wednesday begins a 40 day season of reflection and repentance among many Christians.  However, when Christians emerge from churches throughout the day with ashes on their foreheads, some may take a second look (even in my city of San Francisco!) Why Ash Wednesday?  And what does this symbolism mean?

The ancient symbolism tells a story.  It tells a very important story.  On this first day of Lent, the dual reality of our beauty and our brokenness stands before us.

It begins with seemingly ominous words.  The pastor imposes the ashen cross on one’s forehead saying, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  You are of the earth.  You are creaturely.  You are broken.  We need this reminder in our narcissistic day.  We live off of a borrowed, illusory power – the power given to us in the form of a credit card, a remote control, the newest wonder-drug, or a patriotic sense of entitlement.  But Ash Wednesday reminds us of our limits.  In a moment’s notice, it could all be gone – our possessions, our prestige, our power.  You are dust, after all.  A sober reminder.

But the ashen symbol is of a Cross.  There is no more powerful symbol of self-sacrificial love than this one.  For the love of broken humanity and a broken world, Jesus laid down his life.  God was crucified.  The old King James translation of John 15 still gives goosebumps – Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Two realities.  Our great dependence.  And God’s great love for us.

Brokenness and beauty.

Dust and dignity.

Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peschischa tells this story:

Everyone must have two pockets, with a note in each pocket, so that he or she can reach into the one or the other, depending on the need. When feeling lowly and depressed, discouraged or disconsolate, one should reach into the right pocket, and, there, find the words: “For my sake was the world created.”

But when feeling high and mighty one should reach into the left pocket, and find the words: “I am but dust and ashes.”

The dual reality of our lives is that we’re both in need of radical humility and a profound jolt of God-infused dignity.  We’re not in need of fear-or-shame-based humiliation.  And we’re not in need of motivational sermons or holy pep talks.  We need a dose of Ash Wednesday reality, that paradoxical wisdom which breaks through our polarizing theological jardon with liturgical wisdom.

We need a Jesus who will be honest with us.  You’re a mess, but I love you.

Welcome to Ash Wednesday.

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For more from Chuck DeGroat on the importance of looking at your life and taking wilderness moments of distance from God and difficulty in life seriously, read: