Ash Wednesday
This evening my congregation hosted the local Lutheran congregation for our annual combined Ash Wednesday worship. Today, however, we also included the Korean congregation that "nests" in our church facilities. The Korean pastor, after 40 years of pastoral ministry in the United States and missionary service in Korea (he is an American citizen born it what is now North Korea) had never participated in an Ash Wednesday service. Neither, according to him, had any of the members of his present congregation.
So, three pastors sharing the lead in worship (which was all in English, by the way) and one of them giving and receiving ashes on the forehead for the first time, along with members of his congregation. Our midweek children's "Kid's for Christ" program also attended the service. Half of the children do not attend our church on Sunday. I doubt that any of them had attended an Ash Wednesday service before, either.
But the children, along with the adults, carefully confessed their sins in writing on a small piece of paper and then came forward with the adults to drop their confession into a bowl where they were consumed by fire. (This burning parallels the Old Testament image of a "burnt offering" but, more importantly, represents the offering of our prayer to God in the rising flame and smoke, and also the visual impact of seeing that our sins, when offered to God with a repentant heart, are consumed and forgiven....gone forever).
The children could not take their eyes off of this mini-bonfire in the middle of our worship center. Unlike the adults, who dropped in their piece of paper and returned to their seats, the children dropped their papers in and then stood, immobile and transfixed by the flames. Adults had to squeeze past them to get to the bowl but no one pushed or complained. After several minutes I gently asked the children to return to their seats. I did not want that incredible moment of wonder to end too soon!
A few minutes later those same children came forward and received the mark of ashes on their foreheads (ashes not from the burned confessions but from the Lutheran's tradition of using ashes from the previous year's Palm Sunday palm fronds). Along with the ashes came the words, "Remember you are dust; and to dust you shall return." I have no idea what this enigmatic reference to our human mortality meant to those children. They are so young and full of life. I'm not sure if most of them have ever even thought about aging, sickness or death. For them there is only "eternal and abundant life!" In their innocence they represent to us adults what we long for....life free from the fear of death. And, in their innocence, they represent to us adults something of the new life and salvation we have experienced and received from our once dead and now risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
As if this were not enough, we then celebrated the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. For this, most of the children had left, being picked up by parents who knew they had to get some sleep before school tomorrow morning. But those who remained, who had parents with them, came forward for the third time this evening; this time to receive the body and blood of Jesus. Although they once again did not "understand" what was taking place I have no doubt that they experienced awe and wonder and curiosity over the cups of juice and wine (with Lutherans we have to have wine!) and the pieces of pita bread that were dipped into the cup before being eaten, bread and juice together (which is called "intinction," by the way).
My guess is that those children and those Korean Christians experienced God in the most significant way tonight, for they were experiencing things that were new and full of symbol and poetry, things that radiated heat, light and the smell of smoke and ash; the odor of wine and the transformation of paper into charred blackness. And there was also, of course, the experience of someone marking your forehead with a small cross made from ashes and hearing someone tell you that one day you will be just like that ash.
It was a good service. I felt refreshed and renewed. I felt grateful to God for his love and forgiveness; and for the journey to sacrifice his Son made for my salvation.
Forty days of Lent. I do not think that forty lifetimes would be enough to even begin to digest the mystery and Spirit of tonight's Ash Wednesday worship. Perhaps that is why God created us to live forever and why God so lovingly provided for us to recover that life once again after we had lost it through our sin. Perhaps it is only in the span of eternity that we will really begin to understand what took place this evening. Or, instead I suppose, we could ask one of the children. Although they might not have the vocabulary to express themselves with much precision, I expect that they understood better than us adults. Who would'a guessed!
So, three pastors sharing the lead in worship (which was all in English, by the way) and one of them giving and receiving ashes on the forehead for the first time, along with members of his congregation. Our midweek children's "Kid's for Christ" program also attended the service. Half of the children do not attend our church on Sunday. I doubt that any of them had attended an Ash Wednesday service before, either.
But the children, along with the adults, carefully confessed their sins in writing on a small piece of paper and then came forward with the adults to drop their confession into a bowl where they were consumed by fire. (This burning parallels the Old Testament image of a "burnt offering" but, more importantly, represents the offering of our prayer to God in the rising flame and smoke, and also the visual impact of seeing that our sins, when offered to God with a repentant heart, are consumed and forgiven....gone forever).
The children could not take their eyes off of this mini-bonfire in the middle of our worship center. Unlike the adults, who dropped in their piece of paper and returned to their seats, the children dropped their papers in and then stood, immobile and transfixed by the flames. Adults had to squeeze past them to get to the bowl but no one pushed or complained. After several minutes I gently asked the children to return to their seats. I did not want that incredible moment of wonder to end too soon!
A few minutes later those same children came forward and received the mark of ashes on their foreheads (ashes not from the burned confessions but from the Lutheran's tradition of using ashes from the previous year's Palm Sunday palm fronds). Along with the ashes came the words, "Remember you are dust; and to dust you shall return." I have no idea what this enigmatic reference to our human mortality meant to those children. They are so young and full of life. I'm not sure if most of them have ever even thought about aging, sickness or death. For them there is only "eternal and abundant life!" In their innocence they represent to us adults what we long for....life free from the fear of death. And, in their innocence, they represent to us adults something of the new life and salvation we have experienced and received from our once dead and now risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
As if this were not enough, we then celebrated the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. For this, most of the children had left, being picked up by parents who knew they had to get some sleep before school tomorrow morning. But those who remained, who had parents with them, came forward for the third time this evening; this time to receive the body and blood of Jesus. Although they once again did not "understand" what was taking place I have no doubt that they experienced awe and wonder and curiosity over the cups of juice and wine (with Lutherans we have to have wine!) and the pieces of pita bread that were dipped into the cup before being eaten, bread and juice together (which is called "intinction," by the way).
My guess is that those children and those Korean Christians experienced God in the most significant way tonight, for they were experiencing things that were new and full of symbol and poetry, things that radiated heat, light and the smell of smoke and ash; the odor of wine and the transformation of paper into charred blackness. And there was also, of course, the experience of someone marking your forehead with a small cross made from ashes and hearing someone tell you that one day you will be just like that ash.
It was a good service. I felt refreshed and renewed. I felt grateful to God for his love and forgiveness; and for the journey to sacrifice his Son made for my salvation.
Forty days of Lent. I do not think that forty lifetimes would be enough to even begin to digest the mystery and Spirit of tonight's Ash Wednesday worship. Perhaps that is why God created us to live forever and why God so lovingly provided for us to recover that life once again after we had lost it through our sin. Perhaps it is only in the span of eternity that we will really begin to understand what took place this evening. Or, instead I suppose, we could ask one of the children. Although they might not have the vocabulary to express themselves with much precision, I expect that they understood better than us adults. Who would'a guessed!
posted by Bird of Paradise at 9:46 PM
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