From the Ashes of Repentance, New Life!

A reflection on the meaning of Ash Wednesday and our entry into the Lenten season.

Photo by Rajesh Rajput on Unsplash.

When I was a kid, my father occasionally burned all the grass on a portion of our lawn. He did this, in part, because he was a volunteer firefighter, and it was fun for him to practice controlling a burn.

More importantly, though, burning the grass was a way of clearing the thatch and old clippings and releasing nutrients back into the soil so that new grass seeds could have a better headstart in growth.

St. Paul the Apostle uses this imagery in connection with the work that God is doing and will continue to do between the here-and-now of our earthly lives and our yet-to-come experience of heaven (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-15).

I’ve come to believe that we can willingly submit ourselves to the process of burning away the waste now, or we’ll endure the process in the future on our journey to maturity in eternity. The earlier, the better.

We have a tendency to get lax in the maintenance of our character. When we do, the intrusive weeds of sin and cynicism grow and choke the life out of the better parts of ourselves.

Ash Wednesday (today, as I write this) reminds us of our condition and opens the gate to the season of Lent, during which we will give special focus to confession, contrition, and repentance.

Of repentance, Eugene Peterson says in his excellent book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction,

The usual biblical word describing the no we say to the world’s lies and the yes we say to God’s truth is repentance. It is always and everywhere the first word in the Christian life. John the Baptist’s preaching was “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 3:2 RSV). Jesus’ first preaching was the same: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 4:17 RSV). Peter concluded his first sermon with “Repent, and be baptized” (Acts 2:38 RSV). In the last book of the Bible the message to the seventh church is “be zealous and repent” (Rev 3:19 RSV).

We all want new life. Resurrection. Victory. If we’re not careful, we’ll live on the assumption that our character will just naturally mature over the course of life. So we trek onward on what we perceive as a path of unbroken upward spiritual movement.

But growth doesn’t happen in a straight line, does it?

All of us need moments of self-examination, seasons of clearing away the clutter.

We need to do the painful work of tallying our wrongdoings, seeing the ways in which we’ve brought harm to others, forgiving those against whom we’ve stored up resentment, and receiving again the gracious work of God’s forgiveness of our sins.

Repentance is continual. Daily. Sometimes moment-by-moment.

Ash Wednesday comes around once per year in the Christian calendar as an abrupt reminder that this work of dying to self and burning the waste needs to be done regularly.

A great place to begin this deep work of repentance is meditation on King David’s great Psalm of repentance:

Psalm 51:1-17 NRSV

[1] Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
[2] Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.

[3] For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
[4] Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
[5] Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.

[6] You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
[7] Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
[8] Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
[9] Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.

[10] Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
[11] Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
[12] Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.

[13] Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
[14] Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

[15] O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
[16] For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering,
you would not be pleased.
[17] The sacrifice acceptable to God
is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God,
you will not despise.

We spend plenty of time looking around at all that is wrong in the world.

We look back with fondness on the highlights of our lives that stand out in contrast.

And we look ahead and daydream of better times to come.

Today, however, is a day to pause and to look within at our own character and all that needs to be cinged away in the refining fire of God’s truth so that we are prepared to witness the springing forth of new life within our broken spirits.

From the ashes of repentance, new life always promises to emerge.

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