Rev. Devin Strong, Spirit of Peace Lutheran

According to Google, somewhere between eleven and seventeen percent of Americans are currently on anti-depressants—up to 45.3 million people, and that number is increasing! On top of that, an untold number of others feel inappropriate shame over things that happened to them in the past. So what in the world is the church doing hosting an annual Ash Wednesday service to mark the beginning of Lent?

Without doubt, Ash Wednesday is the most penitential worship service of the Christian year. Historically, we burn the palms from last year’s Palm Sunday celebration— symbolically acknowledging how quickly people can turn on Jesus—and we place the ashes on our foreheads in the sign of the cross on Ash Wednesday. Not only that, but this worship service includes an extended confession where worshippers admit their culpability in everything from personal failures to societal matters of justice and lack of care for the environment. But if people already feel depressed and ashamed, is it even appropriate for Christians to beat ourselves over the head with a detailed list of our sins?

I say a gentle and qualified “Yes.” Obviously, I don’t want to begin the season of Lent by sending parishioners running for their Xanax, but what we hope to do on Ash Wednesday is something rare in the world these days, and that is to practice deep and unflinching honesty. In a world where some people blame others for everything wrong in their lives and refuse to take responsibility for anything, and others go overboard feeling shame for things that are not their responsibility, Christians try, on Ash Wednesday most of all, to face a hard truth, namely that we are broken, and it is our very nature to need God in order to be whole. The goal is not to leave people battered and bruised but instead, truly open to the God who loves and forgives us.

Telling the whole truth is the beginning of real change and transformation. This is why addicts in recovery begin every AA meeting telling the truth and the first of the Twelves Steps is to acknowledge that they came to understand that they were powerless over alcohol. You might say that Ash Wednesday is a Twelve Step meeting for sinners. The good news is that alcoholics who are diligently working on their recovery are some of the healthiest people on the planet. The same can be true for us, Christians. By getting all of our junk out in the open, we can face it head on and move over and through it After all, the whole point of confession is to get to forgiveness and start a new life.

So I invite you all to our annual Ash Wednesday Service at Spirit of Peace Lutheran Church on Wednesday, March 5th. We will begin, as we always do on Wednesdays, with a free dinner at 6 PM.

Ash Wednesday worship will begin at approximately 6:30 PM. It will be a full and somber traditional worship service including the imposition of ashes. It may not be a “fun” or “happy” service, but it may well be one of the more powerful and meaningful worship experiences that you have all year. As believers, we never end in ashes. This service will conclude with the holy and necessary receiving Communion at the Lord’s Table, where we will once again taste and see that the God is good.