Ash Wednesday 2023

 In the past few years I've heard about "Ashes to Go" on Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday = the first day of Lent, which is the season of contemplation before Easter.  And, quite literally, my favorite liturgical time of year.  The Great Vigil of Easter is the culmination of it, and it's my favorite night of the year.

't any rate.

Last Sunday my priest (love her!!!!) mentioned that she really wasn't quite into the Ashes-to-Go thing that has been going on the last few Ash Wednesdays.  I don't really remember having heard about that before the last few years, but here it is:

Folks who can't necessarily make it to a full-fledged Ash Wednesday mass/service have the chance to find a place where a priest will administer ashes to them (a cross on their foreheads) have had the chance with this Ashes-to-Go business for several years.

I have VERY mixed feeling about this, and I doodled on my church bulletin today about it.

My first doodle was about my own visceral feelings about it.  If you can't make it a priority to go to mass, can't make it a priority to understand the things that the scriptures tell us during that mass, then how can you truly understand the full meaning of ashes?  One of the most important readings of that mass tells us to give alms secretly, so that the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.  So why should ashes-to-go be a thing?  All it does is allow you the black mark on your forehead to mark your "piety."

My second doodle was to tell myself to stop presuming.  The person who had no ability to sneak away from work for the service.  The person who is too saddled with children, too saddled with other things we can't explain, that we can't sneak away without feeling self conscious about anything?  The person that, even if they hid out in the very back of the church, would still feel odd walking forward for ashes, much less communion, but found a little safety in driving up to a priest who prays to them without judgment?

I'm still puzzled by this.  I feel like the message of Ash Wednesday is lost in a drive-up deal, but I also think that anyone who wants to bring God into their lives in this season of contemplation should be able to do so easily and without judgment.  Lord knows that the stereotype of "church ladies" is pretty judgmental.

This is a tough paradox.  I hope that discernment can come to me in this next season of Lent, in preparation for Easter.

'til then, I'll enjoy the music of this season, and comfortably be jealous that I'm not the one who chants the Exsultet this year. (we'll revisit that another time)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

... a musician?... Am I?

  Lately I've been following a lot of vlogs about musicians who have made it in the performance scene.  I'm especially enamored with @katieflute ... not just because Katie is my favorite name (long story), but because holy cow she plays beautifully and her sense of humor and musicianship keeps me going when I feel like everything is falling apart. I used to be pretty good at flute.  Within the top 5 of the studio at the Crane School of Music between 1998-2002.  When I practiced/played 6+ hours a day, my technique blossomed and my musicianship grew.   MUSICIANSHIP.   Mr. Andrews (Ken Andrews = AMAZING musician!) always said that the ultimate compliment to someone is that they are "a musician."  It implies more than flute, more than music theory, more than teaching, everything.  In a school that cranked out music teachers (case in point), he seemed to be an anomaly.  Ken, if you're reading this, I owe you so much.  I'll write you a musical...
Read more

how I met my perfect musical match part 1

 Poor John.  He will be the "victim" of this post... When I was 11 years old (barely), I was in the church folk group (praise band for all y'all protestants).  Suddenly this new guy showed up playing piano.  He had blonde hair and big glasses, but holy cow could he play.  Love at first sight. Our friendship grew, even though he was 5-6 years older than I am.  As the girls in Catholic School grew crushes on celebrities, I had no idea what that meant, but I wanted to be normal.  So the only male close to my age that seemed like a person to spend lots of time with was John.  He played piano, I played flute, and music grew from there. When I was in 9th grade I finally told him how I loved him, and it turned into my pestering where he finally had to tell my mother (also a member of said Folk Group) about it, and so that happened.  I apologized, and he said not to worry about it, just let's go on as friends.  So we did. I'm still sorry for tha...
Read more