Today begins the 40 days of Lent. I look at these days ahead as an opportunity to join with millions of Christians around the world in celebrating, and remembering, what our Lord Jesus has done in going to the cross.
Matthew 16:24 (ESV)
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
By tradition in many of the mainline churches ashes are placed on the head of those who come to worship today. The word "Lent" comes from the word Lencten, which is an old Anglo-Saxon word for "Spring". Lent begins a 40 day period that ends at Easter (Sundays are not counted in Lent because they are considered to be days of celebrating the Resurrection, not the cross).
Why Ashes?
The symbol of Ashes have always stood for mourning, for a repentant spirit. The Old Testament world often depicted mourning as people tearing their clothes, or wearing sackcloth, and sitting in dust and ashes. At a funeral service, especially graveside, it's not unusual for a pastor to say we return the body to the earth, "ashes to ashes, dust to dust". Look at some other passages: Genesis 3:19; Job 34:15; Psalms 90:3, 104:29, and Ecclesiastes 3:20.
Ashes symbolize the temporal quality of life. Our lives "are but a vapor, that appear for a minute and then vanish away." We live with the reality that we are not going to live forever in this body, in our world. Our lives will come to end, and if not for Jesus' death on the cross, we'd live without the hope of the resurrection and the promise of eternal life.
1 Peter 2:24 (NRSV)
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
However this day strikes you - and I hope it means something to you - make a point of coming back each day as we think, ponder, pray our way through these 40 days leading up to Easter.
Peace
Wednesday, 13 February 2013
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