We’re approaching Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. We eat pancakes the day before on Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) as we eat up the rich fatty foods before commencing the Lenten fast. Traditionally this is the day we are ‘shriven’ or absolved of our sins after self examination. On Ash Wednesday, the previous year’s palm crosses would be burned and the ash used to make a cross on the forehead as a sign of confession and repentance.
There are Biblical references of people and entire towns sitting in sackcloth and ashes as a sign of repentance (Jonah 3 v 6, Job 32 v 6, Luke 10 v 13).
Today when I think of ash, I think of the grey dust and embers of 9/11 or the aftermath of an earthquake. Fine flakes floating. Absolute quiet and stillness before the realisation and panic sets in. The definition of ash is the end product of incomplete combustion or the residue after something burns. A useless symbol of what was.
In Job 13 v 18, Job protests that the sayings of his friends are as ‘useless as ashes’. I remember during the reporting of the 9/11 terrorist attack, people who were there saying that as they fled from the tumbling towers, their mouths and nostrils filled with the falling ash. I imagine it to dry out and scald your internal tubes and be an horrific experience especially if you think too deeply about the origin of the ash. The Psalmist (102 v9) declares ‘ashes are my food because of Your (God’s) anger and fury. Isaiah 44 v 20 declares that worshipping idols makes as much sense as eating ashes.
However, as in the musical film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, ‘Up from the ashes, grow the roses of success!’ There is another use for ashes that is much more creative and productive. Ash can be used to put nutrients back into the soil. ASH is Action on Smoking and Health, the group that works to turn round the health problems associated with smoking cigarettes. WHO recommends that, in areas where there is no soap available, people use ash as a disinfecting agent.
In Hebrews 9 v 13, it’s recorded that in Jewish history, the ashes of a burnt calf was used to purify the people. The author of Hebrews suggests that now Jesus can be used in the place of the ashes to purify our consciences from useless rituals so that we can approach and serve the Living God.
Prayer:
Purify my heart, blow away the useless ashes of the sins of my life and leave the gold and precious silver. Cleanse me from within. My heart’s desire is to be holy and set apart for You. Ready to do Your will. Amen