Ash Wednesday (2)
One of the things I love about blogging is learning. As I get ideas for blogs or start to study a passage, I often realize that things are different than I remembered or that passages say things I hadn't noticed before. This is my experience with the Ash Wednesday service from the BAS today. I was all excited because I wanted to reflect on the passage in which the celebrant exhorts us to "observe a holy Lent" (page 282) because in my memory, that is what came next.
But I was wrong.
Right after the Collect comes the Readings. There are four readings for Ash Wednesday:
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12
Psalm 103:8-18
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
I love these readings but there is one that stands out to me as "the Ash Wednesday Reading". I think it is because I first heard this passage preached on in an Ash Wednesday service whereas I was familiar with the other passages as they had already impacted me at various times in my life (and various times in the church year).
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
1 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy hill.
Interpreting this passage within the context of Ash Wednesday expands my vision of church. Although I haven't been diligent in getting my children to Ash Wednesday services in the last few years (due to difficulties with timing and locations... and snow), this passage has me imagining an Ash Wednesday service with people of all ages. Even if the children are unsure of what the liturgy means, it will affect them. What goes on between God and the individual as well as God and the church impacts the children of those individuals and that church! Being raised in an environment that practices repentance and seeks to always return to God who is "is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love" (verse 13b) cannot help but shape the child's views of God and sin (both individual and corporate). Eventually the children will mature and be able to pray alongside the rest of us.
But I was wrong.
Right after the Collect comes the Readings. There are four readings for Ash Wednesday:
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58:1-12
Psalm 103:8-18
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
I love these readings but there is one that stands out to me as "the Ash Wednesday Reading". I think it is because I first heard this passage preached on in an Ash Wednesday service whereas I was familiar with the other passages as they had already impacted me at various times in my life (and various times in the church year).
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
1 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy hill.
Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times
for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times
nor ever will be in ages to come
12 “Even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent
and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the Lord your God.
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent
and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the Lord your God.
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion,
declare a holy fast,
call a sacred assembly.
16 Gather the people,
consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
gather the children,
those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride her chamber.
17 Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,
weep between the portico and the altar.
Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?'
declare a holy fast,
call a sacred assembly.
16 Gather the people,
consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
gather the children,
those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride her chamber.
17 Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,
weep between the portico and the altar.
Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?'
Much could be said about this passage but the thing that always stands out to me at it is being read at an Ash Wednesday is verse 16:
"Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber."
Various ages, various life circumstances, everyone is to join the assembly as God's people repent and turn back to God. I am particularly interested in those "nursing at the breast". Of course they have not done anything consciously against God nor will they be able to comprehend what it means to "Rend your heart and not your garments" (verse 13a) but yet they are included for at least two reasons. First so that their Moms can be there. This is huge. Nursing mothers need to know that they are fully a part of the assembly. Second, because it is the whole assembly turning towards God. Little ones are also part of the community committing to a new (renewed) walk with God. What happens in their parents lives is going to impact them.
Interpreting this passage within the context of Ash Wednesday expands my vision of church. Although I haven't been diligent in getting my children to Ash Wednesday services in the last few years (due to difficulties with timing and locations... and snow), this passage has me imagining an Ash Wednesday service with people of all ages. Even if the children are unsure of what the liturgy means, it will affect them. What goes on between God and the individual as well as God and the church impacts the children of those individuals and that church! Being raised in an environment that practices repentance and seeks to always return to God who is "is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love" (verse 13b) cannot help but shape the child's views of God and sin (both individual and corporate). Eventually the children will mature and be able to pray alongside the rest of us.
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