Ash Wednesday 2024

So here we are: Lent has arrived, along with Valentine’s Day, which is a kind of weird combination for the calendar. Regardless, it’s a day on which many Christians across the world begin their journey through Lent, which is a time of repentance, reflection, and self-denial. Which means Lent can get a little dark, thematically speaking, but there are highlights along the way. Smack dab in the middle of the season, we get St. Patrick’s Day, which hardly can be associated with self-denial. And, of course, to kick off Holy Week, we get the celebratory atmosphere of Palm Sunday, with the joy of Easter wrapping things up. (Yes, I know, the darkness of Good Friday is in there, too.)

But back to Ash Wednesday for a moment. I actually feel fairly upbeat on this particular day. For one thing, I feel more plugged into the Lenten Season than I often have been in recent years. As I’ve described on this blog before, when I first began going back to church as an adult (in my late 20s), it was during Lent, and so the season had quite a bit of meaning for those first several years of my renewed faith. However, over the years, what with one thing and another, I gradually began to feel less connected with that liturgical/spiritual journey. This year, however, I’ve already been doing daily Morning Prayer every weekday for the past few weeks, and I intend to keep doing so as we move through the season.

I don’t exactly know why, but this selection from one of this morning’s Morning Prayer readings really resonated with me:

Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. (Hebrews 12:7–8)

I don’t actually read the word “discipline” here as “punishment.” The Greek word seems to be more concerned with training, although there the lexicon also mentions correction and chastisement. The word is paideia, which another lexicon describes as “instruction that trains someone to reach full development.” (Indeed, both my daughters attended a public school that had paideia in its name.) And I think verse 8, which says those who don’t have discipline are “illegitimate,” is really fascinating. It might be something for me to keep in mind throughout this season.

For a long time now, I’ve actually really found penitential psalms very meaningful. Psalm 51 (which was not one of today’s psalms) is one of my favorites. Which is funny, if you happen to know me, because people are often saying how I always seem to be upbeat and happy. But there’s something that draws me to the penitential psalms, their rawness and their emotional power. I guess that’s another thing that I find appealing about the Lenten season. In some way, it’s almost as if it’s a chance for me to get in touch with a side of myself that can be neglected.

Tonight I’ll be participating in an Ash Wednesday contemplative service at the church I serve as Director of Music Ministries, and then it’s on to the work of choir rehearsal, as we prepare music for Lent and for our spring cantata. I hope (and pray) that both the service and the rehearsal that follows will add to the meaningful experience of Ash Wednesday for myself and the people with whom I’ll be sharing those couple hours.

May your journey this Lent (if you choose to observe the season) be full of meaning as well. Amen.