 Ash
Wednesday
The Ash Wednesday and Lenten season is the
forty days before Easter. During these forty days we prepare for Easter.
We get rid of bad habits or things that are keeping us from growing in
Christ. On Easter morning we will celebrate the progress we made in
getting rid of something we like in order to grow closer to Christ.
Virtual
Chapel 3-1-2006
Don’t know what Ash
Wednesday or Lent is? Keep reading!
Ash
Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season. For some of you the
season of Lent is a familiar occurrence, for others Lent might be a
confusing concept. Lent is observed for a forty-day period before
Easter each year. It is a solemn time of preparation in the life in the
church. Although the word “Lent” never appears in the Bible, the
practice derives from biblical examples. Jesus spent forty days being
tempted in the wilderness after he was baptized and before he began his
public ministry. Moses and Elijah also spent 40 days in the wilderness
praying and fasting in hopes to hear a word from God. During Lent,
Christians are invited to spend forty days preparing for the Good News
of Easter. Easter is a new beginning, but first we must get ready. We
get ready by spending forty days of self-introspection. During this
time of examination, we admit our short-comings, our failures, our lack
of self-discipline, ultimately our failure to be the person that God
created us to be. After we acknowledge our short-comings, we get rid of
that which is interfering in our relationship with God. During Lent,
our goal is to get rid of the bad, in order that we can receive the new
on Easter morning.
Read Psalm
51 below for more reflection...
Have mercy on me, O
God,
according to your
steadfast love;
according to your
abundant mercy
blot out my
transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly
from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from
my sin.
3 For I know my
transgressions,
and my sin is ever
before me.
4 Against you, you
alone, have I sinned,
and done what is
evil in your sight,
so that you are
justified in your sentence
and blameless when
you pass judgment.
5 Indeed, I was born
guilty,
a sinner when my
mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in
the inward being;*
therefore teach me
wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with
hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I
shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and
gladness;
let the bones that
you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from
my sins,
and blot out all my
iniquities.
10 Create in me a
clean heart, O God,
and put a new and
right* spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away
from your presence,
and do not take
your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the
joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a
willing* spirit.
13 Then I will teach
transgressors your ways,
and sinners will
return to you.
14 Deliver me from
bloodshed, O God,
O God of my
salvation,
and my tongue will
sing aloud of your deliverance.
15 O Lord, open my
lips,
and my mouth will
declare your praise.
16 For you have no
delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a
burnt-offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice
acceptable to God* is a broken spirit;
a broken and
contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Psalm 51 is
traditionally used on Ash Wednesday. It captures this very element of
self-examination and confession. It shows the staining and
contaminating quality of sin. In the Old Testament in order to get rid
of sin, they would perform sin sacrifices where blood was often
associated with washing and cleansing. Hence, the hyssop bush was used
in cleansing ceremonies. Today we do not use hyssop bushes, but we
still understand the pervasiveness of sin. No one seems to be free from
its contaminating nature. We all struggle to be the person that God has
created us to be. We all fall short. Psalm 51 is able to be honest
with personal short-comings and down right failures. Lent calls us to
launch a honest personal inquiry. Being honest with our failures and
asking for forgiveness honors God. In order to experience the joy of
Easter morning, we must cleanse the old in order to be created anew.
Use Psalm 51 as a personal prayer as your begin the season of Lent.
For more information
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