What’s With The Ashes? Ash Wednesday Explained, Plus a Family Devotional! Written by the Elf Updated 2/24/2020
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Today isn’t just any day, it’s Ash Wednesday.
Yesterday wasn’t just Mardi Gras, it was Fat Tuesday.
Now if you knew nothing about Mardi Gras outside of the beads, crazy parades and cakes- you probably wouldn’t expect there to be anything remotely religious about it.
But a quick google search and religion is in the first sentence-What?!
Ash Wednesday is the start of a season of Lent, traditionally, in the church.
But what’s with the ashes and Lent? Isn’t this just a Catholic thing?
Ash Wednesday Explained
It’s not as crazy as it sounds- all a part of the Easter season.
Ash Wednesday is the day that we remember that Jesus suffered for us. It introduces the season of preparing our hearts for Easter. Making time in our lives for more Scripture to remind us of the awe of the Resurrection.
Ash Wednesday, Lent, Good Friday and Easter Sunday are not mentioned in the Bible. But the reason we acknowledge each day is because of Scripture. (There are holidays and parts of holidays that have no anchor in Scripture to be sure. Like Fat Tuesday and hiding Easter eggs. But I’ll be enjoying those all the same.) And it’s not just a catholic thing, it’s a church calendar thing- Christian’s of all denominations have been participating it for hundreds of years.
1) Lent
it’s the whole time that we prepare for celebrating the resurrection. Typically done with fasting. The fast is for forty days, like the forty days Jesus spent in the dessert fasting.The fast, like other fasts, is considered to be about repentance (with self-examination), prayer and meditation on the word of God. Forty days of fasting are followed by the Good Friday and Easter celebrations.
2) Ash Wednesday: What’s with the ashes?
On Wednesday you start your fast with a contrite heart. In the Old Testament ashes were associated with repentance and grieving. So on Ash Wednesday there are ashes drawn in the shape of a cross across our foreheads as a reminder of our mortality and need to ask for forgiveness. (fun fact- the ashes traditionally are from the burnt palm leaves from last years Palm Sunday service) I love actually going to this service on Wednesday because it is somber, with beautiful music, and we read prayers and Scripture that acknowledge our sin together.
3) Then comes Palm Sunday.
It is the Sunday before Easter that commemorates Jesus riding into town on a donkey and being celebrated before He was betrayed.
4) Good Friday- Not as Happy As It Sounds.
After Palm Sunday we have Good Friday. Which is another solemn day. It is on this day that we acknowledge Jesus dying on the cross and taking on the sins of the world.
5) Finally, Easter Sunday comes!
We feast and celebrate again. We celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. Jesus rose from the dead so that we too can escape separation from God for eternity. Our faith isn’t just an old story to tell, it’s a relationship and a living adventure.
*There’s this thought in conservative circles that Easter is a super pagan holiday that shouldn’t be celebrated. Here’s a great article about how that really isn’t the case! It doesn’t mean everyone’s walking around celebrating Jesus along with the Easter bunny- but you can celebrate both without fearing you’re teaching your kids some sort of pagan worship.*
What Ash Wednesday and Lent Means to Me…
I cannot remember a time in my childhood or adulthood where I have been excited about Lent or Ash Wednesday, but this year is a little different. Now I have always been excited for Fat Tuesday, but Ash Wednesday always seemed like such a drag, and completely opposite from the Easter season.
I find myself right now in a season of struggle where there don’t seem to be many safe spaces. I am experiencing a very painful growing, grieving and learning process. It’s been long and I wish it would magically go away. My friends are as sick of hearing about it as I am of talking about it. And, unfortunately, our western church culture and instant gratification culture in general do not do grief and growth well. Especially in the long term. But Jesus did.
And THAT is why I am so ready to go to church today.
Grief at church
Ash Wednesday is about repentance, humility and grieving. We’re acknowledging the brokenness in the world that comes between God and us. We are so incapable of fixing our own junk that Jesus had to come and make a way for us to get to God. God’s love is so incredibly great for us that He allowed Jesus to suffer and die for us.
We have a Savior that experienced anguish. A Savior that showed us how to cling to God in pain. The Bible does not gloss over the fact that Jesus experienced great anxiety, sorrow, pain and betrayal before the cross. (Luke 22:44 “And in His anguish, He prayed even more intensely, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”, Matthew 26:38 “My soul is overwhelmed with grief, to the point of death.”, John 19:1-2 “Pilate took Jesus and had Him flogged. The soldiers twisted thorny branches together as a crown and placed it onto His brow” Luke 22:21 “ But even now, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on this table.” The Voice Translation)
Tears will be welcome during this somber service and I will leave with ashes on my head that will remind me that I came from and will return to dust. During the service everyone reads a prayer of confession and repentance. Here’s a piece of that prayer,
“We confess that we have sinned
by our own fault in thought, word and deed;
by what we have done
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved You
with our whole heart, and mind, and strength…
Show favor to your people, O Lord,
who turn to you in weeping, fasting, and prayer.
For you are a merciful God, full of compassion,
long-suffering, and abounding in steadfast love.”
Plenty to Go Around…
Now I grew up in Protestant churches and have worked in Protestant churches and while a vast majority only celebrate a few of the classic church holidays and feasts, there are some, like Episcopalians, who celebrate several. “Tradition” does not scare me, it encourages me. There have been SO many Christians who have gone before us and I am thankful for their example. Just as I am thankful for the ones that forge ahead on new paths.
There’s always room to go visit another church’s service or explore another denominations traditions. A lot of times it will make you more grateful for your own!
It frustrates me to hear people say that there is not enough Christianity in Christmas and Easter. They were, and are, both religious and culturally current for me. And holidays are what we make them. There is so much church tradition that can be meaningful and relevant today if we intentionally engage in it.
I didn’t always understand why my Dad celebrated the feasts and holidays on this religious calendar when our church did not celebrate them. I certainly did not appreciate the extra prayer and church growing up. But when I was talking to him about it recently he reminded me that our daily lives follow rhythms of the calendar (school, national holidays, time off, etc…) and that we have to be intentional about molding our rhythms to Christ instead of just letting them fall where they may. These points on the calendar are directionally pointing us back to the rhythms of Jesus life on earth.
Family Devotional:
- Read Luke 22-24 together over the week.
- Decide on how you want to participate in Lent together!
- Some people participate in traditional fasting.
- Others add more devotional time or a special practice that makes them think of God’s love- like performing a random act of kindness ever day. We have a $2 kindness kit with a random acts of kindness calendar here.
- Keep each other accountable, lovingly! And make it a habit to pray together over the course of the forty days.
- Lent Discussion Questions: Try to tackle one question each week together!
- Why do we need to regularly ask for forgiveness?
- When was the last time you were surprised by God?
- How can we keep perspective in our lives? Remembering God’s love for us when life gets busy.
- How was Jesus being intentional before he was arrested? What does it mean for us?
- Jesus was hung in between two thieves, and one of them believed Jesus asked to be saved. Has the Holy Spirit ever moved you to make a good choice when you were about to make a bad one?
- How can we keep our hope in the Resurrection fresh and new?
I am, inexplicably, grateful for a season where I can bring my frustration and pain to the table. When we are talking regularly about Jesus suffering with and for us. A season in which grief does not look like a lack of faith or hope, but of preparing for a greater hope.
We lament now and we repent. There is reason to grieve. But this is just a season. And we cling to hope because we have a Savior who loves us and does not abandon us in our grief.
What’s with the ashes… bring them on! Because Jesus suffered and then brought us all hope!!
(Random note- if you are fasting for Lent, companies market to people this time of year too, so bring on the discounts! Papa Murphey’s has a sale on veggie pizzas and select CFA stores have fish sandwhiches for Lent!)
What to check out next:
-If you’re interested in adding random acts of kindness into you Lent routine. Or encouraging empathy and kindness in your elementary or high school aged kids during this season! Check out our $2 resource with printables! You can find it on Etsy or Teachers Pay Teachers!
-You might also be interested in our post on The Chosen series. I would highly suggest watching it during this season! It made the Gospel story come alive for me in a brand new way this year- and it’s free to watch!
-You can find our Advent devotional series here! You might also enjoy our blog about what we can learn from St. Patrick!
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