Ash Wednesday is the liturgical service that kicks off the season of Lent.  And, like so many of our liturgical expressions, its meaning and purpose has become obfuscated by an institutional perspective that seeks order and control.  Consequently, Ash Wednesday has become a rather morbid service which focuses on one’s mortality and how mortality is a direct consequence of humanity’s depravity and sinfulness.  The emphasis of the liturgy, it seems, has been to literally scare the hell out of people in order to reinforce conformity to the expectations of the church — the religious rules.  It is this service that sets the tone for the entire season of Lent — a wallowing in one’s sinfulness and depravity through the practice self-flagellation — be it physical, emotional, or spiritual.   Lent, then becomes a test of one’s commitment and endurance.  The implication is that if one persists for the forty days of self-sacrifice (as if giving up chocolate is truly a sacrifice), then one may merit God’s grace and favor.  The season of Lent is reduced to nothing more than a religious display for the benefit of others.  Rarely is there is any sense of transformation.  Lent has become a simplistic exercise of endurance that enables the personality to affirm its self-serving tendencies.    

But if growth and transformation are the purpose of spirituality, how then are we to understand Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent?  How does this liturgical expression and season facilitate our spiritual development and serve our growth?  What benefits are afforded our souls?  And, perhaps most importantly, how are we to manifest (or incarnate) our transformation as our personality becomes aligned with our soul?

The essence of spirituality is realized through our connections — to ourselves, one another, creation, and the Divine.  It is time to reclaim Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent as spiritual opportunities that support our spiritual development and enable our growth as human beings.  It is imperative that we let go of the notion that we are merely fulfilling religious requirements and embrace the invitation to become nothing less than children of God, to live into the fullness of our humanity.  Accepting this offer necessitates our willingness to let go of our personality which we have so carefully fostered and embrace our soul which is nothing less than Divine.  Ash Wednesday and Lent are an invitation to let go of our personality and embrace our true nature as children of God.  The bidding is not to abstain from indulging in culinary delicacies or from the pursuit of self-gratification.  The invitation is to let go of the façade of our personality and open ourselves to the Divine — Spirit — and embrace our ability to live lives of Love. 

The focal act of the Ash Wednesday service is the imposition of ashes — typically the smudging of one’s forehead with ashes in the shape of a cross.  The accompanying words are: “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”  Sadly, this liturgical act and declaration are understood (by both priest and congregant) to be a pronouncement of God’s judgment — affirming that mortality is God’s punishment for the inherent sin of being human.  Such a perception disparages the fundamental belief of Christianity — that it is in humanity that God is pleased to dwell and where we experience Emmanuel, God with us.  It is little wonder that Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent are bereft of spiritual meaning and fail to engender spiritual transformation.

The imposition of ashes is not meant to be a reminder of God’s judgment of our being human but a reminder of the impermanence of our personality.  The imposition of ashes seeks to remind us that we are more than our personality.  Our value is not defined by social status, educational pedigree, professional accomplishments, or affluence.  Our worth is not revealed by our attire, the house and neighborhood where we live, the car we drive, or the “toys” we buy.  Our ambitions and accumulated possessions are superficial and short-lived.   By remembering the impermanence of our materialistic and self-serving patterns of behavior, we are invited to re-engage our soul — to align our personality with our nature as children of God. 

The gospel lesson appointed for Ash Wednesday is from the Sermon on the Mount — Jesus’ only recorded sermon.  In this portion of the sermon Jesus is addressing the three pillars of his religious tradition:  prayer, fasting, and almsgiving (charitable giving).  Jesus is not discounting these religious practices.  Rather, Jesus is challenging our intentions for engaging in religious practices.  Jesus is clearly teaching that it is our intention, more than the specific religious practice, that matters.  Are we praying simply because it is expected and/or it draws attention to our devotion?  Are we fasting (okay, not really something that first world Westerners embrace), or in our culture, depriving ourselves of some delicacy, so that others will acknowledge our piety?  Are we giving to the poor in order to demonstrate our virtue and goodness? What is our intention?  Is it simply to publicly fulfill our religious obligations or to enhance our capacity to live our lives as children of God?

Ash Wednesday is our invitation to be intentional about our spiritual growth.  The imposition of ashes is a means for us to embody our intention.  In other words, the smudge of ashes on our foreheads is for our benefit — not for impressing others with our piety.  This is the purpose of ritual — to give us an opportunity to enact our intention.  When we embody our intention, we are more likely to be conscious about our intent and cognizant of our purpose.  In other words, we are reminding ourselves of our intention to grow into the fullness of our humanity.  Rituals, liturgical acts, and spiritual practices are the tools offered to us as a means of reinforcing our intention to live into the fullness of our humanity.  It is in humanity that God is pleased to dwell.  It is in our humanity whereby God is manifest in the world.  It is in our humanity that the Dream of God is experienced and expressed as a tangible reality.   By acknowledging the impermanence of our selfish patterns of behavior, we become capable of aligning our personality with our inherent nature as children of God and thereby incarnating the Dream of God in our world.