Relax. It’s Ash Wednesday

A little fantasy reel I run in my head goes like this: I hire a couple of marketing whizzes to consult with us on how to sell Lent. They ask for a quick outline of what we do in these forty days leading up to Easter.

“You know, we begin by inviting people to have ashes smeared on their foreheads, tell them they’re dust and they will return to the earth as dust, start a season singing hymns in minor keys, and conclude with a blowout dramatic presentation of betrayal and crucifixion.” The guys quietly return the consulting fee and wish me luck.

It’s actually no joke. I really do think there’s a powerful meaning embedded in the ashes and in the invitation to introspection and self-examination that go with the season of Lent. We tend to over-spiritualize this stark ritual.

Two simple and radical truths express themselves in the ashes.

One, we are dust, we return to dust. In other words, we are finite. We can’t do it all. Even the most powerful, loving and creative among us is limited.

Two, we are dust and therefore we belong to the earth, we share a kinship with it and we must care for it, respecting that there are limits to what we can afford to do to “this fragile earth, our island home.”*

So relax into your human reality. You are not in charge. Enjoy who you are. Find someone or something to love and care for.

To live life fully, and lovingly, is enough.

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* Memorable line from Eucharistic Prayer C in the Book of Common Prayer.