What is Ash Wednesday & Lent?
What is Ash Wednesday and Lent? How do Christians observe Lent? Learn more about the meaning of the imposition of ashes and how you can better prepare your heart for Easter this Lenten season.
When is Ash Wednesday?
February 14, 2024
What is Ash Wednesday?
“It is a curious thing,” mused poet Malcolm Guite, “that we should use ash as a sign of repentance and renewal.”
For over a thousand years, on Ash Wednesday, Christians have attended a service of repentance and renewal to mark the start of Lent that consists of a time of prayer, lament, confession, and the imposition of ashes in the form of a cross on one’s forehead.
But, in our self-absorbed culture where our clothes, hairstyles, and skin routine communicates our worth and status, Ash Wednesday and the gawkish ashen crosses speak a different kind of set-apart life, a cruciform life—one that is found in and through death and radical humility.
The ashes stoke up in our memory the Old Testament practice of repenting with dust and ashes.
The dust is a powerful symbol of our humble beginnings and our humble end: “For dust you are,” says the Lord, “and to dust you shall return.”
The ashes represent humanity’s collective and individual sins that blaze in a conflagration of destruction, leaving selves, families, forests, and cities in a heap of ash.In Scripture, when someone repents with dust and ashes, they are at the lowest point of their lives—absolute rock bottom—a moment of destitution and desperation, but repentance marks a turning point.
Think of Job. After his whole life—all of his assets, securities, livestock, and family—has turned to dust and blown away, he cries out to the Lord, and amazingly, the Lord answers.
At this moment, Job is wholly undone before the presence of his redeemer, and the combination of desperation, loss, and a marked change culminates in Job’s repentance with dust and ashes:
“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
My ears had heard of you,
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:4-6
Ash Wednesday invites us to mourn and grieve loss and death. But after mourning comes the repentance––the turning around––the dying to self. 1 Peter 5:6 says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you in due time.”
“When we repent with dust and ashes, marked with a cross on our foreheads, we profess that the old—our sin, our flesh, our very lives—are gone and that the new is here—abundant life with Christ, our Redeemer.”
When we repent with dust and ashes, marked with a cross on our foreheads, we profess that the old—our sin, our flesh, our very lives—are gone and that the new is here—abundant life with Christ, our Redeemer.
The ashes are a reminder that there’s something broken within us. The gospel is bad news before it is good news. The bad news is that we are more broken than we could ever see or imagine, but the good news is that we are more desperately loved than we could ever fathom.
You can find these truths colliding on your forehead. The ashes are our sin; the cross is our salvation. The ashes are our confession and our claiming of the sin in our lives; the cross, as Father Mike Schmitz says, is the sign that Jesus has claimed our sin, our shame, our guilt, and our death AS HIS.
The ashen cross, then, is a powerful symbol not just of forgiveness but of radical love and divine approval that restores you to fellowship and friendship with God—like the signet ring the father gives to the prodigal to mark his restoration to sonship.
When we submit our brokenness, He will restore us; that’s the beauty of Ash Wednesday.
The cross is not only a symbol of death; it is a symbol of life! The resurrection is only possible on the other side of Calvary. The same is true of ash. Not only is ash a symbol of death, but it is also a powerful symbol of life!
Malcolm Guite said, “For the ash that is left after purging fires is itself a fertilizer, a life-enabler, a source of new growth; we place these unpromising leavings on the garden and new things bloom. The cross of ash becomes a deeper symbol still, for what is destroyed in that emblem of all our destructiveness is sin itself.”
What grows from that ash is our new life in Christ, empowered by the same resurrection power that God worked in Christ.
“I have been crucified with Christ: and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20-21
Ash Wednesday then reorients our hearts, minds, and bodies for the church’s Lenten journey through the cross to Easter. We move from cross to cross.
Why Do We Observe Lent?
Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon word lencten, meaning “lengthen,” and refers to the lengthening of days in Spring. Still, we can spiritualize the word’s etymological roots and see Lent as a powerful spiritual season where our hearts are stretched, lengthened, and even pruned, awaiting the new springtime blossoming of the resurrection.
The Prophet Isaiah exclaims to a people in wandering exile, “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.” His words continue to resound in our present situation where we still find ourselves pilgrims in lonely exile in the already and not yet.
Lent is our pilgrimage to Easter. The 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter make up the liturgical season of Lent, reminiscent of Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness before they arrived in the Promised land and of Jesus’ own 40 days in the wilderness before his public ministry began.
Lent, then is a journey through the wilderness.
Guite continues, “Lent is a time set aside to reorient ourselves, to clarify our minds, to slow down, to recover from distraction, to focus on the value of God’s kingdom and the value he has set on us and our neighbors.”
We tend to think of the “wilderness” as a place of dismay and weakness, but the Israelites were led into the wilderness by God’s presence in the form of clouds and fire. Moreover, Christ was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit not to make him weak but to make him strong. The practices of spiritual formation—solitude, fasting, praying, meditation—were all actualized by Christ as a means of tuning his heart to God’s will. During Lent, we journey away from the world and into the wild.
Lent, then is a time to strengthen the stakes of our faith and orient our hearts to God’s kingdom by distancing ourselves from the things of this world that vie for our attention and set our life-trajectory to the wrong end and, instead, immersing ourselves in practices that shape and form us into the people God desires us to be and reorienting our desires to their proper end, God’s kingdom.
With this journey in mind, it’s only fitting to start it with Ash Wednesday, a time of repentance (of turning). But, if we begin the journey, we must face it correctly.
My mother used to tell me when I would dread doing my math homework that “the only way to finish is to start.” The only way to the resurrection is through the ashes and the cross. Lent is a period of solemn self-reflection, and spiritual detachment form the world that does not lessen but increases our joy and intimacy with God at Easter.
How Can I Observe Lent?
When we think of Lent, we often think about going without cookies or sodas, but the point of Lent is not mere self-improvement. Instead, Lent is about getting our hearts right with God; Lent is about spiritual formation.
Lenten practices can include taking things away from your life like sweets and food or, God knows we need it, technology and social media, but spiritual formation can look like adding practices or things to your life.
Here is a range of historic Christian practices, all of which are designed to be done habitually to form your soul into Christ-likeness:
Study
Open Scripture and begin to study God’s Word. Learn to hear what Scripture is actually saying by learning the context and reading commentaries. Often we cannot hear God because our presuppositions are louder. [READ MORE: How to Read Bible]
Solitude
Detach from the world and reattach to God. For every miracle Jesus performed, afterward, he would retreat to lonely places. Go for a walk through nature or find somewhere secluded in your home to be alone with God. Create a space with minimal distractions so you can focus on receiving His presence.
Fasting
Start small and work your way towards something bigger. Start with something you crave: chocolate, soda, Tik Tok, Youtube, [Lord forbid Coffee!] or fast for just one meal. During that time of want, fill your emptiness with spiritual food: praying, Scripture reading, or almsgiving. The Prophet Isaiah said fasting without concern for the poor is wasted. Consider giving the money you would have spent on food to the church, missions, or the poor. Many people in your city need the meal you are giving up [READ MORE: How to Fast].
Meditation
Sit quietly with God’s Word. Memorize Scripture or open your heart to allow God to envelop you. Dwell in the Word, and let it dwell in you.
Confession
Share with another believer what has been separating you from God. What areas of your life have you failed to surrender? What sins are you holding on to and need to release? What secrets do you have? Confessing to another believer is a powerful moment where Jesus’ healing hands find a hold in your heart.
Worship
Traditional methods of worship can include music, but worship can also look like admiring God’s handiwork during a sunrise quiet time or going on a prayer walk through nature. Or worship can be sub-creating your beautiful artwork and dedicating your work to the Lord.
Celebration
His presence will be made known when we spend time with God. Celebrate the areas of your life where God has made Himself known. Celebrate where He’s making change, and even celebrate where you anticipate change. Consider having a regular Sabbath meal with your family and friends to celebrate how God has acted in creation and history.
Sabbath
The world does not depend on you; it depends on God. Take a weekly sabbath that honors God as creator and sustainer and re-creates and sustains you. Sabbath-ing is spiritual medicine for anxiety, burnout, and vainglorious ambition. (READ MORE: How to Sabbath)
Spiritual Disciplines in Action
If you’re struggling for examples of spiritual disciplines in action, look no further than our Lord. He went to the wilderness for solitude to align His heart with the Father. But He was also tempted. Lent is a time when our temptations are uncovered. Trust me, fasting exposes parts of your heart that a full stomach keeps hidden.
Think of Christ’s temptations and apply them:
Turn this stone to bread: Where are you tempted to put your appetite and desire above God and His Word?
“Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” So how can fasting or abstaining help you feed on God’s Word rather than the cravings of your flesh?
Throw yourself down from the temple, and the angels will protect you: Where are you tempted to gain glory for yourself?
“Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” How can you apply St. Paul’s words, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”
Bow down to me, and you can have the power without the suffering of the cross: What temptations in your life are angled towards power and self-gain divorced from sacrificial love?
“Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” Where can you give up your power and, instead, serve others or give your wealth, influence, time, and effort to the Lord and His people?
Advice for Observing Lent
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
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?” Joel 2:12-14
The thoughts of our hearts lead to our actions. Therefore, commit to concentrating the meditations of your heart on Him during this Lenten season. As Jude says, “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” Our striving is a recognition of our need and desire to meet with God, but remember that He is striving more faithfully to empower you.
God is always calling us to a deeper union with Himself. During this Lenten season, invite God to search your heart, uncover your hidden faults, tear down idols and walls preventing His presence from indwelling you, or lengthen your heart to make room for God Himself to dwell in.
With heads anointed with ashen crosses, leave Egypt behind. Your sin is no more. Now begin the journey of becoming what you already are—a new creation in Christ Jesus destined to experience His presence and pleasure forever. So take the first step into the wilderness this Lenten season. There is no other path to the Promised Land.
TL;DR
Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent, a time of prayer, lament, confession, and the imposition of ashes in the form of a cross on one's forehead.
Ash Wednesday invites Christians to mourn and grieve loss and death and then repent and turn around.
The ashes and the cross on our forehead are a reminder of our brokenness and God's radical love and divine approval that restores us to fellowship with Him.
Lent is a season where our hearts are stretched, lengthened, and pruned, awaiting the new springtime blossoming of the resurrection.