This Ash Wednesday, a debate
has been heating up over a practice implemented by some of my clergy
colleagues, known as “Ashes to Go.” In the name of “taking the Church into the
world,” and “meeting people where they are,” vested clergy and acolytes have
for the past several years been taking to the streets to distribute ashes to passersby
in public squares and on train platforms.
This year, however, there’s
been a bit of pushback. Two days ago, for example, the Episcopal News Service
ran an opinion piece by a priest with an extensive street ministry in Brooklyn,
New York, questioning whether it’s really possible to make a good beginning of
Lent by receiving your ashes on the fly between Starbucks and the morning’s
first business meeting. Are such gimmicks, he asked, really an effective method
of evangelism? Are there not more authentic ways of taking the Church’s
ministry into the world?
Regardless of which side we
come down on, the deeper value of the debate itself is that it compels us to
look more closely at the symbolism of Ash Wednesday, to try to understand what
it means. And here perhaps it’s appropriate to review some of the basics about
the ashes.
A key point is that the ashes
of Ash Wednesday are, in theological language, not a Sacrament but a sacramental. That is, they do not by
themselves convey God’s grace in the way that, say, the water of Baptism does,
or that the consecrated Bread and Wine of the Eucharist do. A sacramental, as
distinct from a Sacrament, is an outward sign meant to reflect and express the
inward dispositions of our hearts. It’s a reminder to us of what we need to be
thinking, feeling, and doing.
In particular, the ashes of
Ash Wednesday are meant to remind us of what we need to be about as we begin the
Lenten Season. It came as a surprise to me several years ago to realize that
even in the Roman Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday is not a Holy Day of
Obligation. That is, it’s not a day when the faithful are expected to attend
Mass as a requirement of membership in the Church. Numerous Masses are offered
on Ash Wednesday, and the faithful are strongly encouraged to attend, but
attendance is not a requirement in the same way as it is on certain other days,
such as Christmas, All Saints, Ascension, and, for that matter, Sundays
throughout the year.
What is required of
the faithful on Ash Wednesday in the Church is that we observe the day
“by special acts of discipline and self-denial.” (Those words are on page 17 in
the Prayer Book.) The Church intends Ash Wednesday to be a time of fasting,
prayer, almsgiving, and repentance, regardless of whether we come to Mass and
receive our ashes, or not. The ashes remind us of our mortality so that we may
devote ourselves to these practices in all seriousness of purpose, mindful that
dust we are, and to dust we shall return.
With that background, we can
return to the question of whether “Ashes to go” is an appropriate undertaking.
You be the judge. I think that arguments can be made either way, for and against
the practice. It’s not something I feel particularly called to do myself. Maybe
others are.
The danger I see is that of
encouraging people to receive the ashes superficially, or even superstitiously,
as some sort of magic talisman conveying divine blessings apart from the day’s
appointed disciplines of prayer, fasting, and repentance. For those who come to
Mass to receive their ashes, the service itself – with its readings, psalms,
and prayers of penitence – establishes the ritual context that helps shape the
right dispositions for the day’s observance.
Be all that as it may, the
important point is that we’ve gathered here this evening to receive our ashes
and, I trust, to remain for the rest of service: Ashes to Stay! But we need to
make sure that we receive them as a sign of our commitment to keep a good Lent
by observing the disciplines of the season. If we’ve not already done so, we
need to decide on a Lenten Rule – What shall we give up? What shall we take on?
And then the ashes will be a sign to us, and to one another, of our common
commitment to undertake this year’s Lenten journey together.
No comments:
Post a Comment