Photo: Gerhard, Pixaby
From Rev Sue Murray
The most bizarre Ash Wednesday I ever spent was a morning at Crawley railway station with a Bishop and Church Warden offering to mark commuters with the sign of the cross on their foreheads.
Many people just hurried past this strangely attired trio, but a few stopped to talk and to be ashed.
What were we trying to do? The words said as we mark the sign of the cross on a forehead are
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.”
At a very basic level these words and the action remind us that whoever we are and whatever we achieve - or try to achieve - in this life, all is to be looked at with an eternal perspective.
The one who is seen as greatest in the land has the same destiny as the least, however you define greatest and least. From dust we came, to dust we shall return. What is eternal is our faithful relationship with Christ. This is what will stand the test of time.
Lent, which starts on Wednesday, is a period when we pause from our normal round of life - whatever normal life looks like in 2021 - and we take time to examine it and ask ourselves, ‘Where do we fail to live up to Christ’s calling? Where have we slipped away from Him?’
It is a time of self-examination and penitence, and a fresh resolve to live in Christ as he empowers us to through the Holy Spirit. Being ashed, marked with the sign of the cross, is the outward symbol on an inward attitude of penitence and repentance.
Circumstances mean that I shall not be marking anyone with ash this year, but it is not the external that matters – it is the inward change that we seek, that it would seep out into our outward life. Can I challenge you all this Lent of 2021 to a time of fasting, prayer and self-examination as we all seek to be faithful to Christ in all parts of our lives?
I don’t know what the Crawley commuters thought of the strange trio all those years ago but I hope it made them think this life is not all there is, maybe we need to prepare for the next.
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.”