“So Why Ashes?”
by Keith Leach, March 2025 (reprinted from March 2019)

Jonah 3:6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

In just a few days, we will once again begin the season of Lent with the celebration of Ash Wednesday. We at College Church will gather at 5:30 in the evening for a service recognizing our need for humble reflection, awareness and atonement for our sins in preparation for the wonderful season of Easter.

During our Ash Wednesday service, worshipers will be able come forward for the imposition of the ashes: ashes that are spread upon either our foreheads or the back of our hands in the sign of the cross. People often ask why we Presbyterians observe this day and this practice of the imposition. Is this not a Roman Catholic “holy day” and “rite”?

In truth, Ash Wednesday is not a particularly important date for many protestant denominations except that it kicks off the season of Lent. For many centuries post Reformation, Presbyterians and other Protestants felt it too “Catholic” to observe Ash Wednesday. Besides, as Presbyterians we have totally embraced the fact that we are always supposed to be penitent. However, in the past 50 years more and more Protestants have begun to see the good in a service that kicks of this season of reflection and life examination.

In the Bible, ashes represent both the mortality of humanity (representing the “dust from which you are made”) and our failures to live in a right relationship with God, thus our need for atonement. I believe that it is a very moving service that points us in the right direction for the entire season of Lent. After all, “Lent is a time of growth in faith—through prayer, spiritual discipline, and self-examination in preparation for the commemoration of the dying and rising of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Book of Common Worship). To appropriately examine and grow we must see what we are lacking. Ash Wednesday is a good place to begin to see how we might be closer to God.

I pray that this Ash Wednesday will be a great start to your season of Lent.