Return to the Lord your God, 

for he is gracious and merciful, 

slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. - Joel 2:13

Devotion

Read Joel 2:12-13

On Ash Wednesday, the church enters the season of Lent. Whether you are new to the liturgical calendar, or have observed seasons like Lent all your life, we invite you to frame this holy season as a leg on your spiritual journey. During Lent, we slow down to take in the view, to interpret the landscape, and to compare our position with the map of Scripture. Through this season, we will metaphorically make our way up to Jerusalem, to the triumph of Easter Sunday. Be warned, however, there is no easy way to the empty tomb. We are following Jesus, who endured the passion week, with its heartache and betrayal leading to torture and death.

Rather than the beginning of our journey, Ash Wednesday is more like an intersection at which to pause and evaluate spiritual progress. Recentering my focus on Jesus, I may ask, is there anything—whether habit, substance, or person—possessing an unhealthy hold on me? Is there anything weighing me down or tripping me up? I ask Jesus to set me free. Is it time to make a turn on my journey, and move in a new direction? This is the idea of repentance as a result of a sincere examination of my own heart.

The fathers and mothers of our faith, through the season of Lent, wove repentance into the rhythm of the church calendar. As an act of repentance each year on Ash Wednesday, we stand before a pastor and hear him or her say, “From dust you came, and to dust you will return” while marking our foreheads with ash. These words are quoted from Genesis 3, and remind us life on earth is temporary. God created us from dust, and our bodies will return to dust. In the Hebrew Bible, ashes are used to express sorrow for sin. As we receive them, we acknowledge our own failures of heart and body to live consistently in a way that pleases God. Ashes and dust root us in our humble humanity, and in our glorious potential with God’s help.

Prayer

Dearest Jesus, you are my master and my guide. You have been with me every step until today. You know where the journey will take me tomorrow, and in the years to come. In light of your vision, please remove anything that entangles or weighs me down. As I pause with the ashes, and move at a slower pace into Lent, please help me to see and to follow you. Amen.

Deidre Franklin
Pastor, Spiritual Formation

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