Most people when embarking on a journey spend at least a little bit of time preparing for what they expect to encounter. They pull down the dusty suitcases, empty out forgotten fragments from the last trip, and pack the proper items for the coming trip. Within the season of Lent, Ash Wednesday acts as this packing and preparation stage in the journey towards Easter.

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, the forty-day period leading up to Easter Sunday. As a whole, the Lenten season symbolizes a journey. During this time, it is common to fast or give up something of value in one’s life. This practice mimics not only the forty days Christ spent fasting in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry but also the journey of the Israelite wanderings in the desert recounted in the Old Testament. Lent becomes a way of engaging with the journey of Christ by placing God at the center of our daily rhythms, the forefront of our thoughts. In his poetic musings on the Lenten season, Malcolm Guite explains the journey this way: “Wherever we are in our wilderness journey, we are not alone; [God] walks with us even as, in keeping Lent, Holy Week and Easter, we walk with him.” And so as we are reminded of the sacrifices of Christ during Easter, we prepare ourselves with Ash Wednesday.

In many traditions, Ash Wednesday is commemorated by a cross of ashes displayed on the forehead. Think of it as a passport stamp for the journey of Lent. Within the “stamp” are the twofold symbolism of the ashes - repentance and death. What an uplifting way to begin a journey! But in looking a little deeper, they are the symbolic and hopeful preparations for the coming of Easter. Traditionally for the Israelites, ashes played a significant role in atonement practices to right one’s wrongs. It was part of their confessional route to forgiveness. The second nature of the ashes represents the inevitability of death as laid out in Genesis 3:19, which says “for you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.” In the shadow of an imperfect world, death is a painful reality. Yet in the physical reminder of ashes, we are reminded of the hope that became our redemption as Christ sacrificed himself as a final victory over death at the cross on Easter.

There is sorrow and pain in ashes, but the purpose of Ash Wednesday is to remind us that beauty too can come through ashes as the prophet Isaiah foretold. Acknowledging our shortcomings, and remembering the suffering that Christ endured on behalf of humanity are hard and uncomfortable aspects of this journey. But the point of the season of Lent, is that we might better prepare our hearts for the reality of the beauty and hope that Christ offers us through sacrificial salvation. God is with us on the journey, ready with a spiritually equipped suitcase filled with all the items we may have forgotten in our preparations so that nothing hinders the journey to the hope of Easter through our own wildernesses. Ash Wednesday is just the revenant preparation of unloading the old weight and filling our suitcase with what is good for the journey to come.

Most people when embarking on a journey spend at least a little bit of time preparing for what they expect to encounter. They pull down the dusty suitcases, empty out forgotten fragments from the last trip, and pack the proper items for the coming trip. Within the season of Lent, Ash Wednesday acts as this packing and preparation stage in the journey towards Easter.

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, the forty-day period leading up to Easter Sunday. As a whole, the Lenten season symbolizes a journey. During this time, it is common to fast or give up something of value in one’s life. This practice mimics not only the forty days Christ spent fasting in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry but also the journey of the Israelite wanderings in the desert recounted in the Old Testament. Lent becomes a way of engaging with the journey of Christ by placing God at the center of our daily rhythms, the forefront of our thoughts. In his poetic musings on the Lenten season, Malcolm Guite explains the journey this way: “Wherever we are in our wilderness journey, we are not alone; [God] walks with us even as, in keeping Lent, Holy Week and Easter, we walk with him.” And so as we are reminded of the sacrifices of Christ during Easter, we prepare ourselves with Ash Wednesday.

In many traditions, Ash Wednesday is commemorated by a cross of ashes displayed on the forehead. Think of it as a passport stamp for the journey of Lent. Within the “stamp” are the twofold symbolism of the ashes - repentance and death. What an uplifting way to begin a journey! But in looking a little deeper, they are the symbolic and hopeful preparations for the coming of Easter. Traditionally for the Israelites, ashes played a significant role in atonement practices to right one’s wrongs. It was part of their confessional route to forgiveness. The second nature of the ashes represents the inevitability of death as laid out in Genesis 3:19, which says “for you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.” In the shadow of an imperfect world, death is a painful reality. Yet in the physical reminder of ashes, we are reminded of the hope that became our redemption as Christ sacrificed himself as a final victory over death at the cross on Easter.

There is sorrow and pain in ashes, but the purpose of Ash Wednesday is to remind us that beauty too can come through ashes as the prophet Isaiah foretold. Acknowledging our shortcomings, and remembering the suffering that Christ endured on behalf of humanity are hard and uncomfortable aspects of this journey. But the point of the season of Lent, is that we might better prepare our hearts for the reality of the beauty and hope that Christ offers us through sacrificial salvation. God is with us on the journey, ready with a spiritually equipped suitcase filled with all the items we may have forgotten in our preparations so that nothing hinders the journey to the hope of Easter through our own wildernesses. Ash Wednesday is just the revenant preparation of unloading the old weight and filling our suitcase with what is good for the journey to come.