This is the first of what I hope will be a series of dialog posts between my friend Kevin and I. The topic is Ash Wednesday and begin when I made a comment on Facebook that I had been burning palms to prepare for the coming observance. Our plan is to have one of us write an article first and the other respond. You are invited to join the conversation with your own observations and questions. For more on this series, see my earlier post "Can We Talk."
Why I observe Ash Wednesday - Barry
I did not grow up in a church that made a big deal of Ash Wednesday. I can remember in grade school seeing classmates with ashes on their forehead and wondering why they didn’t clean their faces before coming to school. Someone explained to me that they were Catholic, but that did not help me understand. As an adult, there are two reasons I observe Ash Wednesday in the churches I have served. The first is that I believe rituals are important. We all have rituals in our lives, both named and unnamed. These rituals are symbolic actions that point to a greater meaning in our lives. They remind us who we are and often whose we are. Ash Wednesday reminds me that my own story is shaped by a much greater story, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I admit that nowhere in the Bible can you find the early Christians practicing Ash Wednesday. That does not mean the story is not Biblical. Tradition tells us that the early Apostles observed 40 hours between the death of Christ on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter morning. That time was extended to 40 days at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. Of course 40 is an important Biblical number reminding us of Noah in the Ark, Moses fasting before receiving the ten commandments, the Israelites wondering in the desert and Jesus own time in the wilderness. For us to spend 40 days intentionally examining our own temptations and sinfulness is very appropriate. It does not neglect or replace the need to confess our sins daily, but is a reminder of who and whose we are.
The second reason to observe Ash Wednesday is the practice of following the Christian year. The Christian year is not based on literal dates when events actually happened. I have never heard anyone argue that Jesus was really born on December Th or resurrected on a specific date in the spring. We don’t know the actual dates, but we do know the story of Christ found in the gospels. In the gospels this story has a distinctive rhythm that is centered around the cross and the empty tomb. To live out the Christian year is a reminder that our lives are ordered by the rhythm of God’s time and not the world’s time. So much of our schedule is dependent on the world. The work day, holidays, vacations even entertainment is on someone else’s schedule. The Christian year orders our life around the story of Christ. Once again it reminds me who and whose I am.
This Ash Wednesday we will once again take the palms that were waved last Palm Sunday and have now been turned to ash and place them on our foreheads as a reminder that the story of Christ never ends. It lives on in the lives of those who choose to be the body of Christ alive in the world.
Why I Don't Observe Ash Wednesday and other Church Traditions - Kevin
I agree with Barry that as a young boy, seeing the ashen cross on the foreheads of some of my classmates was a mystery to me. I think many church traditions can be that way. I didn't understand at all until a good Catholic friend of mine explained the whole thing. He explained that this began a period of self denial called lent where people in the church did their best to live their lives denying themselves of fleshy lusts for 40 days. While I think the self denial is admirable, I find the Catholic tradition of Ash Wednesday and lent an interesting albeit vain tradition to me.
By vain, I mean empty. And while wearing the ashen cross is a bold way to identify their faith in the cross and its redemptive power, it is vain in the fact that it is for show only. Jesus rebuked the religion of His day for their vain shows of faith. The Bible in Isaiah 64:6 calls our personal righteousness "filthy rags."
The Word of God is clear that when one is born again, Christ enters the believer through the power of the Holy Spirit and God accepts Jesus' righteousness in place of ours. That's why a ritual of the Catholic Church becomes a vain tradition. A person living a life of faith in Christ trusts in Christ's righteousness for salvation.
Rituals are not important to God. God wants real Christians to act like it all the time, not just observe right living for the 40 days leading up to Easter. Most of the participants I know are basically good people and they are indeed faithful to their church and its traditions, but the true change that is brought about by putting ones faith in Christ is negated by vain traditions that are for show only. There is usually no true repentance in their lives. The change that the Bible speaks of should come from the inside as Christ is formed in the heart of the believer. In the Old Testament, when a Jew was seeking answers from a penitent heart, he would pour ashes over his head as an act of contrition and humility. I believe most people today do it simply as an act of tradition. Now to be fair, they may not even understand all of the traditions of their church, nor the reasons behind the tradition.
The number 40 in the Bible is very important, but since neither Ash Wednesday nor Lent are found in scripture, the Biblical relevance of the number 40 in conjunction with Lent are unfounded. The idea that the apostles observed 40 hours between good Friday and Easter are also suspect and tradition only. In John 2:19-21 Jesus said He would raise the temple of His Body 3 days after it had been destroyed. If that isn't enough, Jesus prophesying in Matt 12:39; 16:4 and Luke 11:29-30 said the only sign given to that generation would be the sign of Jonah the Prophet, who as a type or illustration of Christ was in the deep, in the belly of the fish for 3 days and 3 nights, a full 72 hours. Since 3 is the number of God, I believe this is referring to Christ's time in the tomb. Since this happened during the Passover week, Thursday would have been treated as a Sabbath type schedule. Jesus was in the grave by Wednesday 6:00 pm and probably rose after 6:00 pm Saturday which to the Jews is actually seen as Sunday. If one does a close study of the feasts of the Jews one will see that Jesus had to be crucified around the passover (is He not our Passover?) therefore, only when Easter Sunday
falls at the end of Passover week is it actually the Christian Easter. No, again, good Friday is nothing more than a Catholic tradition observed by protestants as well.
That's why Ash Wednesday, lent, etc. is just empty church tradition to me. That's not to say that some of the participants aren't very sincere in their "acts of contrition and repentance" during this time, just that the traditions themselves aren't found in scripture and therefore vain.
New Testament Christians should live their lives in observance of Christ's love and indwelling presence all the time. That's the clincher for me. If Christ is present with me 24/7/365, then I should live my life with that knowledge all the time. My life shouldn't be marked by vain calendar dates that even the Catholic church admits it's not sure of, but rather as the Apostle Paul challenges in Colossians 4:5 that we are to "Walk in wisdom to them who are without, redeeming the time." God wants us to serve Him in newness, His mercies new everyday not in traditions of men that become vain in their repetitions. (Col 2:8)
My point is that you should allow Christ to become so evident in your daily life that the need for tradition and ritual to identify with Him becomes obsolete. If one has a correct relationship with Him, is in tune with the Holy Spirit's leading and spends time daily in God's Word, that alone will remind the Christian of his or her sinfulness and daily need for a Savoiur. If that is the point of Ash Wednesday and Lent, then I prefer a close walk with my Saviour to identify my sinful heart, so that I along with the Apostle Paul may cry "Oh wretched man that I am..." only to be rescued by the loving grace of my Saviour!
Kevin, here is a question your post raises. If you don't see value in ritual, why do you go to church every week and encourage others to come as well? The worship service is a weekly ritual that points to a greater reality in our lives. Daily confession is a ritual. If God could care less about rituals, why practice any tradition in our faith, we should just try to live like Christ? As I was trying to say in my post, we all have rituals that give us meaning. Some people go to church just for show and others go because it deepens their fiath. I have a hard time making a blanket statement that the traditions of another church are just for show instead of filled with meaning that brings us closer to Christ.
Posted by: Barry | February 08, 2009 at 12:12 AM
I guess it does need some clarification. First of all God is not against ritual. He demanded many rituals in the OT that pointed to redemption and righteous living. My problem is not with ritual in general, but repeated man made religious ritual. For example: I believe scripture makes it clear that God wants us to attend church, be baptized, take communion, read His word and pray. Those are all rituals that I take part in regularly and believe that God blesses and enjoys with me. But as far as church tradition, dates, and other things of that nature I just don't believe God cares too much about them.
That is not to say that if someone finds "meaning" in a ritual that makes them "feel" closer to God, that I'm against it. My greater point I suppose, is that I don't believe that one's walk is all about "feeling." It is rather about truth. What does God have to say about it in His word, not a council that met several hundred years ago.
Rituals are not against God's will or plan. The Lord's supper for example is one that in our church is a beautiful time of reflection and repentance in memory of the death of Christ. I just get concerned that sometimes our rituals do in fact take the place of Christ's true intent for that ritual. Just as the Jews missed the lawgiver while trying to defend the law.
The truth is what every Christian should seek in their journey. Ritual, meaning, feelings and tradition are all a part of it, but in my opinion unless God has commanded it to be done, it is not important. ie, God does not care how you "feel" about the truth in His Word, only that you obey it.
One of the primary differences between Independent Baptists and denominational Christianity is I suppose church tradition. While a Methodist, Lutheran or Catholic may have many, many traditions that flow from their church fathers and leaders, we Baptists observe it if we find it in scripture only, mostly the New Testament, but there is some from the Old Testament as well. Note I am not condemning the other belief system, only contrasting between the two. Hopefully this is better clarification.
Posted by: Kevin | February 08, 2009 at 12:14 AM
Kevin -
That is not to say that if someone finds "meaning" in a ritual that makes them "feel" closer to God, that I'm against it. My greater point I suppose, is that I don't believe that one's walk is all about "feeling."
I'd have to say that meaningful rituals are not simply about "feeling" closer to God; rather, that these rituals actually strengthen our walk with God in a meaningful way. When we read Lenten passages like Joel 2 about true repentance rending our hearts and not our garments or Isaiah 58 about true fasting loosing the chains of injustice these are hard teachings, but when we follow up with a commitment as a church to repent and fast, it makes a difference. It's easier to see it through, knowing that we are not alone in our commitment.
The first generation of Christians were not the only ones who had insight into God's nature and into our relationship with God. Though I wouldn't say Tradition is infallible by any stretch of the imagination, I think we can still learn a lot from those Christians of centuries ago.
Posted by: BruceA | February 09, 2009 at 12:15 AM