Ash Wednesday
“Remember, O mortal, that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” – Genesis 3:19
When I was young, I experienced the trauma of death. My uncle drowned while rescuing me from a rip current. Death is a terrifying thing when we encounter it. I remember that after my uncle passed, I was plagued by the thought of dying. I would have these random thoughts; “what if I just slipped and hit my head right now.” As a child these moments froze me in fear. Over time I worked with my family, therapist, and pastors to come to terms with the reality of death, and to refocus my thoughts towards the beauty of life.
Ash Wednesday has become the day each year that I go through this process again. The scripture in Genesis that is used as the ashes are placed on one’s forehead reminds us that at some point each one of us will die, “to dust you shall return.” Death is a topic that no one, specially not us in the western world, wants to deal with. We would all prefer to live each day without thinking about the loss of life, and definitely not our own eventual death. However, living in denial is not a good way of facing our fear. Ash Wednesday offers us a head-to-head confrontation with death. The scriptures that are read with the ashes, which symbolize death, being placed on our foreheads are meant for us to face the reality of our own mortality.
This is incredibly uncomfortable for most of us, and probably one of the reasons why Ash Wednesday does not show up on most people’s favorite liturgical holidays list. And although facing the reality of death is uncomfortable to borderline traumatic, it is something we cannot run from. I fully believe that God’s desire is not for us to live in fear, and there is no more root fear than that of death. This is why the Bible is so full of life language, and even a main reason why Jesus came; “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NRSV). This is also why we place the ashes on our foreheads in the shape of a cross. The intention is to help us reconsider the meaning of life and death. We will die at some point, but how will you live in the meantime. Will you see each day as a gift, will you align your life with Christ and discover this new life, which scripture tells us, “conquers death?”
One of my favorite songs is called “If we were vampires” by Jason Isbell and the 400 unit. In this song you hear a man talking about life with his lover; “if we were vampires and death was a joke… I wouldn’t feel the need to hold your hand… maybe time running out is a gift…” I pray that this Ash Wednesday you discover that maybe timing running out is a gift, that each moment is a special chance at life, and that there is a God whose love is for you, and wants to offer you transformational life.