Ash Wednesday

Listen to this meditation

Ash Wednesday 

Today we begin the fourth season of the Church Year, Lent, with the observance of Ash Wednesday.  This day is full of deep meaning on many levels, and I commend both today and all of Lent to you as a season of spiritual reflection, of self-examination, of self-discipline, and of repentance. 

Lent is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “spring" or "lengthening days.”  This 40 day season represents a tithe of a little more than 10% of your year, and is based on the 40 day periods mentioned in the scripture, specifically Jesus’ time in the wilderness after his baptism (40 days), the Israelites time of wandering in the desert under the leadership of Moses (40 years), and Noah’s time on the ark during the flood (40 days). 

In earliest Christian practice, it was a season when converts to the faith were prepared for baptism.  Over the generations of Christian history, there have been times when Lent was observed more carefully and more widespread by Christians.  In our own day, it is not taken as seriously as past generations perhaps, though there is evidence that it is regaining emphasis by a variety of Christian believers in our country, not simply those of us familiar with “liturgical practice.” 

The ashes of today remind us that we “are dust, and to dust we shall return.”  It is a day to remember our mortality, a day to reaffirm our dependence on God, a time for us to acknowledge the need for personal confession and repentance in our lives, and a day to make plans for, in the words of our prayer book, “the observance of a holy Lent.” 

We have just finished the 105th Annual Council of the Diocese of West Texas where we launched the diocesan theme for 2009, Abide in Me, taken from Jesus’ words about branches abiding in the vine. (John 15:4) I pray that this season of Lent, this tithe of your year, may be a season of abiding in Christ in significant spiritual ways so that Easter may be a truly glorious day of resurrection for you.