Ash Wednesday Worship

What is Ash Wednesday? Why is it so important for Christians? Why a big deal made out of the first day of Lent? The day gets its name from a custom that has been around for nearly as long as the Christian church. That custom is for Christians to place ashes, usually in the shape of a cross, on their foreheads as a sign of repentance.

Ashes serve as a sign of repentance because they remind the Christian of sin’s ultimate consequence: death. Remember when Adam and Eve first fell into sin God told them that one consequence of their sin would be death. He said, “You [will] return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return”(Genesis 3:19). Those same words are often repeated as a body is interred at a cemetery.

Because of our sin, human beings are ashes to ashes and dust to dust. And so already in Bible times, people used dust and ashes as signs of repentance. When Job realized his sin of questioning God, he said, “I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” When Christians place ashes on their foreheads, they very literally have their sin on their mind. They are powerfully reminded that the greatest problem they have is the problem caused by their sin.

But Ash Wednesday does more than remind us of our greatest problem. More importantly, it reminds us also of God’s solution. On Ash Wednesday we do more than express sorrow over our sin. We also rejoice in the love that prompted God to forgive us in Christ. Christians place ashes on their foreheads in the shape of a cross to remind them that the cross is where we see that love clearly on display.

Ash Wednesday is an important day. It reminds us of two important truths that none of us can afford to forget, two truths that need to be on our mind throughout the year: We have sinned against God. God has taken away our sin in Christ.

As we near Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent that follows, may God focus your thoughts on those two important truths. May he produce in us the continual desire to mourn over our sin and rejoice in his forgiveness. As the prophet Joel once urged God’s people, “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love” (Joel 2:13).