Ash Wednesday Meditation

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Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

Scripture: Genesis 3:19 (ESV)

19          By the sweat of your face

you shall eat bread,

                        till you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken;

                        for you are dust,

and to dust you shall return.”

 

Devotion:

            Today being Ash Wednesday I wanted to briefly pause my study of the resurrection to consider our observance of this day and what makes it special among all the days on the Christian calendar. We observe Ash Wednesday as it has been done for centuries before us. It is observed with fasting and prayer. On this day we are directed to consider the brevity of our life here on this earth.

            Today’s scripture verse from Genesis 3 is the closest the Bible gets to the exact phrase, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. In it God tells Adam and Eve that due to their sin they will die and return to the ground from which they were made. And it was so, and so it has been so throughout the history of the world. The lone exception being the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

            The exact phrase “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” is taken from the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer. It is found in a section on funeral services, it is as follows:

 

                        “FORASMUCH as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto                           himself the soul of our dear brother here departed: we therefore commit his body                           to the ground;            earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope                          of the Resurrection to            eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change                       our vile body, that it may be    like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty                                     working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.”

           

            Here we meet the sobering words of our death set alongside our glorious hope of being raised from the dead in the same way as our blessed Savior was. We should be always aware that our lives are in the words of the teacher in Ecclesiastes “vanity of vanities”. We have just emerged (hopefully) from the worst pandemic in 100 years. We have seen how very fragile our life is during the past 2 years and it has scared us very badly. No matter how close we get to Christ and may know in our minds “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain” as Paul said. We still fear death. It is in our nature to fight all the ailments and diseases that life throws our way.

            So let us observe this Ash Wednesday remembering that these bodies of ours are temporary. They are only dust and ashes. Let us mourn our losses but take heart in the promise of new life in Christ that starts today and lasts for all eternity. Yes, we will return to the ground from which we came. Therefore, let us seek to number our days rightly and have a wise heart to discern how we should live in this world during our brief lives in these bodies. Maranantha, our Lord come.  

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