Aloha i Akua,

Lent began on February 17 with Ash Wednesday. I find the Ash Wednesday liturgy most disconcerting. It is not the recitation of the 51st Psalm (BCP, p. 266) or the wonderful Litany of Penitence (BCP, p. 267). No, it is literally the imposition of ashes in logical contradiction to the Gospel lesson for the day (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21). In the lesson, Jesus Christ teaches, “Be careful not to parade your religion before others; if you do, no reward awaits you with your Father in heaven…. So too when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites…. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so no one sees that you are fasting….” During worship, this lesson is read and then soon after the sermon, the people are invited forward for the imposition of ashes.

The imposition of ashes developed in the Church in imitation of the practice of the use of sack and ashes by penitents. The practice of imposing ashes on Ash Wednesday dates from at least the eighth century in the Church. Some have suggested that the practice began as spreading of ashes on the heads of the faithful with crosses being marked on the tonsures of monastics. (Tonsures were shaved bald spots on the tops of monks’ heads.) Perhaps the marking of the cross on the forehead with ash emerged as an imitation of the sealing with Chrism (blessed oil) at Baptism. The Book of Common Prayer, 1979 (the current “official” Prayer Book of The Episcopal Church), is the first American Episcopal Prayer Book to include the imposition of ashes as a “norm.” Previous Prayer Books often did observe Ash Wednesday with a penitential liturgy, but there was no mention of ashes (though throughout the twentieth century, their use became more common as liturgical renewal happened in our Church).

This is a question of humility and humanity. It seems to me that the teaching of Christ from Matthew points to the meaning of liturgical practice and personal piety. Confession, daily prayers, praying the rosary, observing Feast and Fast days by attending worship, daily Bible study and, most importantly, going to Church every Sunday and taking Holy Communion, are means of understanding our humanity – sinful and yet loved by God – and being brought into relationship with God. We do them to place ourselves in the right context and frame of mind to be open to God. It is all about God and not about us.

And, so what about ashes on Ash Wednesday? There seems to be four options on Ash Wednesday:

1.    Just don’t go up to receive the ashes when invited to do so.
2.    Go forward to receive the imposition of ashes and then wash them off right after the liturgy.
3.    Go forward and don’t wipe them off.
4.    Go forward and bow your head so that the priest sprinkles the ashes on your head like the water at Baptism (the ashes are imposed, but no one will know).

I find the fourth option the most edifying spiritually – though be sure to warn the priest before going forward and lowering your head. All four are faithful choices – even the first one. The question for the believer is one’s relationship with God and how one best connects with the reality of one’s own humanity, finitude, brokenness, and sinfulness. The ashes and the confession are tools in our spiritual knapsack on the pilgrimage of life. You need to discern what is best for your journey to Easter this year.

I suggest that it is through pondering humility that we can best encounter God as Christians. Ilia Delio, a Roman Catholic Franciscan Sister who teaches at the Washington Theological Union, writes: “The humility of God means that we do not have to strain our necks looking upward or strive to climb the narrow ladder to heaven. Rather, God is bent low in love. To love each person, each creature, each element of creation as sister or brother not selfishly but for the sake of the other, to live in peace and reconciliation with all things, is to see God’s goodness shining through the fragile, human nature of our lives. The face of God is hidden in the everyday ordinary person we meet along the way – the storeowner, the mechanic, the little child, the elderly woman – each in some way expresses the goodness of God” (see The Humility of God: A Franciscan Perspective [St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2005], page 115).

If Ash Wednesday and the pious practices of Lent are to bring us face to face with our humanity, we really cannot grasp the miracle of Easter without owning our own reality in the humility of God in Jesus Christ. We are not only called upon to recognize our own pain and suffering, our own brokenness and sinfulness, and therefore our own need for healing and forgiveness, but to see the face of God in the need and want of others and in the world around us. Perhaps we are called this Lent to wipe the ashes from our faces and seek God in the face of those around us.

I invite the people of the Diocese to consciously reach out this Lent to find God in the world. Perhaps by reading to children in a kindergarten class, serving at a food bank or feeding ministry or visiting a nursing home, you can see God’s goodness. Our humanity is made whole in God who became humble. Our humility allows us to see God in humanity.

In fact, I hope no one in the Diocese gives up chocolate, dessert, or coffee – or anything like that – for Lent this year. I hope we will say our prayers and read the Bible daily, be in Church every Sunday, and reach out to our fellow human beings. We are called to face our own humanity honestly and to embrace the humility of God in those around us. Humanity faced and humility embraced.

As Susan Pitchford rightly acknowledges, “… I have indeed screwed up everything that was in my power to screw up, and left to my own devices would be utterly lost. But at the same time, I was created to be something magnificent, and when Christ’s work in me is complete, that’s exactly what I will be” (see Following Francis: The Franciscan Way for Everyone [Morehouse Publishing, 2006], page 65). God’s humility allows me to fulfill my humanity becoming a loved child of God.
 
I pray you have a holy Lent and a joyful Easter! I hope you see God in the world and in the faces around you. I encourage you to face your own humanity, to give it God, to laugh out loud, and to open your arms to those around you.
 
Aloha i Iesu Kristo ko mākou Haku,

+Bob

The Right Reverend Robert L. Fitzpatrick
+ Keali‘ikoaokeakua