A time to contract your borders.
Today is Ash Wednesday on the Christian calendar, and it begins a time when we prepare to mark what Christians believe is the essence of the Christian faith—the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Easter falls on April 20, with Good Friday on April 18. Today, with Ash Wednesday, we begin a season of preparation (what we call Lent) by examining our lives before God and withdrawing from earthly things that can easily block our relationship with Him.
My church and denomination did not celebrate Ash Wednesday or Lent, so I only became aware of them in my adult life. Most free-church Protestants considered Ash Wednesday as a legalistic Roman Catholic event and in many cases they were right. But I think that the best way to combat abuse of Ash Wednesday and Lent is not by ignoring them but celebrating them well in light of what Holy Scripture teaches about the last week of Jesus’ life culminating in His death and resurrection.
What does a good celebration of Lent look like? It can include receiving ashes on your forehead, something I’ve never done although I’m open to that. But as Pastor Zach Eswine from Riverside Church in Missouri points out, “When ash is smeared on our foreheads today, we confront a difficult truth. Death as dust is a scene in our story that we cannot escape. Sorrows for sins against us. Repentance for our own contribution. And yet, in Christ Jesus, death as dust never has been and never will be the truest thing about us.”
“When we receive ashes on our heads today [either figuratively or literally], we declare by faith that we will die. Because death could not hold Jesus in the grave, dust will rise again, recovered to the glory given in it in Eden and all the more in the new kingdom that awaits us.”
Ash Wednesday should not be a legalistic thing. While some folks make a point of giving up something at Lent that is not necessary. If you are doing this out of some religious expectation or duty, I would recommend you not give up anything, though in prayer God may call you to give up something. The point is that we examine our lives, repent of our sins, and embrace once again the marvelous grace and mercy of God
Lent dates to the late third and early fourth centuries and early Christians used the time not only to prepare for Holy Week (the week between Palm Sunday and Easter), but to attend to their relationship with the Triune God. The weeks leading up to Easter were times to prepare new Christians who would be baptized since most baptisms were done on Easter Sunday. Sadly, in the medieval period Lent became tied to the practice of Indulgences—a dangerous practice that transfers forgiveness from God himself to the institutional church. Lent became another means to earn merits and entry into heaven. It became disconnected from God’s mercy and grace.
We come from dust, we return to dust.
Psalm 103 is a good passage of Scripture that characterizes the Lenten season. It’s a reflection on God’s goodness in the face of our human finitude. Notice verses 15-19:
“As for mortals, their days are like grass;
They flourish like a flower of the field;
For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear him.
And the righteousness to children’s children,
To those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments (103:15-18).
We see here the contrast between our mortality and the everlasting steadfast love of God. Our lives are temporary, and each of us, to use the biblical analogy, will return to dust. Yet, “God knows how we were made; he remembers we are dust” (14). And his love for us is everlasting. “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (8). “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities” (10).
This Psalm expresses the essence of Ash Wednesday—we came from dust, and we will return to dust. But God knows who we are, and he is merciful to us. At the end of this age, he will restore you and me and all the dead in Christ to eternal life, and we will dwell with him eternally in the new heaven and on the new earth.
Lent beckons us to grace.
So many distractions in our lives, in our world. Lent is a good season to inventory our lives, to set God-centered priorities, and to live in his presence.
We are busy people. Even in retirement, I find myself almost as busy as I was when I worked full time. It’s not just work or family. It’s all the distractions that pile on to our overloaded schedules. Being busy is not bad, but when we don’t center our lives on Christ, busyness can easily overwhelm us. Lent is a good season to step back from unnecessary busyness, things like watching too much television news, spending far too much time on social media, letting technology control us instead of the other way around. Use this season to spend more time with God and with your families.
A few years ago, there was a little book written telling us to “expand our borders” to ask God to give us more in the way of responsibility and influence. It sold huge numbers, and everyone was looking to “enlarge their borders.” I found that exhausting even to ponder. You know what? Lent is exactly the opposite of that. Instead of expanding or enlarging our borders, Lent beckons us to come aside and live in God’s presence. Lent beckons us to grace and not obligation. Whether you formally mark Ash Wednesday or simply covenant with God to spend more time in his presence, contract your borders and be intentional in your time with the Triune God.
Bob Mayer
Ash Wednesday 2025
It’s been nine months since I’ve written anything, a long season, more by necessity than by choice. But God is merciful and I’m grateful for his mercy.