Observing Ash Wednesday
As I mentioned in a previous post, I was raised in a church that didn’t observe most of the Church calendar. In high school, I remember seeing a friend at school with ashes on her forehead one Ash Wednesday. I thought it was weird that she had a dirty forehead. When other people asked her about it, she explained that at her church, ashes are put on people’s foreheads to commemorate the beginning of Lent.
I knew that people “give up things” for Lent, but I never really understood why. Most of the people I knew growing up who observed Lent didn’t really observe much else about Christianity. (I remember one year, a girl in my class announced to a small group around her that she was giving up wearing underwear for Lent.)
I attended an interdenominational Christian college, where I became friends with some Catholics and Anglicans. These friends passionately observed the Church calendar and everything else that comes along with following Christ. Through those friendships, I learned to respect other Christian traditions, like observing Ash Wednesday and Lent. But I still didn’t have a good grasp on why these traditions were observed.
To help combat our ignorance about the traditional Church calendar, my husband and I went to an Ash Wednesday service today at a church down the road from where we live. Before we went, I googled to make sure it was okay to receive the ashes if we weren’t a member of the church. (It was.) So as we approached the church, I felt nervous. What if you were supposed to do something upon receiving the ashes, and I made a fool of myself for not doing it? Should I wear the ashes all day – even to my very Protestant church later tonight? What would people think? Would everyone at work think I was a Catholic? Would people at my own church feel offended that I attended a *gasp* Catholic church?
As the questions popped into my mind, I decided that, in spite of my nervousness, I was going to go through with it. I would receive the ashes, and I would wear them for the entire day.
In college, the Lord laid it on my heart to work toward reconciliation between fractured denominations. As a Christian growing up in a contemporary Protestant church, I experienced judgmentalism on both sides of the table. Friends at my church spoke condescendingly about Christians who were “too traditional” to have an authentic relationship with God. On the other side of the divide, friends at school who came from traditional church backgrounds would speak condescendingly of Christians like me, who came from “weird, emotional, self-centered” backgrounds. They claimed that we turned worship of God into a frivolous party rather than a sacred reverence.
In college, God stretched me by bringing relationships into my life with Christians of all sorts of backgrounds. Through studying the Bible and theology, I felt convicted about my own attitude toward Christians who worshiped differently than I did. I started to think that maybe Christians on both sides of the table had something worthwhile to offer each other. Sometimes we, as human beings, can be too rigid in our worship of God. But sometimes we can be too frivolous, forgetting what a glorious, awesome God we serve. God is a friend to us, but He is also a holy fire. Reconciliation and fellowship between different denominations helps us all to hold that tension of worshiping God for who He really is, not for who we want Him to be.
Tonight when I attend my contemporary Protestant church with ashes on my forehead, my prayer is that this visual reminder would be received for what it is – a reminder that we are all sinners saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus. I pray that we would be more quick to love and embrace one another in Christ than we are to argue over traditions, calendar days, and styles of worship.
I may not understand or embrace all aspects of every denomination. But I want my heart to be soft enough that I can find the common points we agree on and build bridges of fellowship. May these ashes play a small part in bringing reconciliation, and may they be a reminder today of my need for Jesus.
What about you? Did you grow up in a traditional church or a contemporary church? Have you noticed judgmentalism between Christians of different denominations? Have you ever passed judgment on those who are different from you, like I did with my high school friend when she came to school with ashes? Will you observe Lent this year? If so, what does Lent mean to you?
I was born and raised a Catholic for the first 17 or 18 years of my life, and went through the everything from Baptism to Confirmation. I am no longer part of the Catholic community that I grew up in. In high school I stopped going to church with my family and was introduced into an Assemblies of God church by a friend. The first few months of attending the services there were nothing like the Sunday Masses that I was used to attending. It was in that church that the Lord met me where I was at, and I gave Him control of my life. I decided that I would actively follow Christ, and through that decision I have been able to cultivate a life-changing relationship with the Lord.
A lot of my associations with the Catholic church are strongly influenced by my family and upbringing. As an adult, I am able to look back at my upbringing and find the root of many of my feelings. As I analyze my parents and their efforts to pass on the Catholic faith, (currently 0 for 4 children) their failure seems to be in ‘walking the walk.’
Growing up, we were all dragged to church and catechism classes. Sundays and Sunday school were pretty much the only day that we would hear anything about God. My parents would never talk about God at home, we would hardly ever eat dinner together, and when we would, my parents never had much of anything to say. I never saw my parents read the Bible or participate in the church. Any time there was any sort of prayer in the house, was because of my grandmother. At any rate, the prayer life I saw from her was that of constant repetitions of the Rosary or other prayers read from prayer books. Growing up I never learned the aspect of prayer as dialogue: the Lord hearing me on a personal level and me being able to be responded to. I viewed prayer solely as recitation and nothing more, because the more I repeated, the more meaning would be lost in everything I would spit back.
The same thing went with church services, I would just end up timing the standing up, sitting down, kneeling, etc. To me, everything was lost in everything being so ritualistic. I did ‘everything I was supposed to do’ because I was raised to do as I was told without question. In all honesty, I feel my parents and a lot of my relatives go to church simply because it’s what they were taught to do. When I look at the lives they lead, Jesus appears to be on the back burner, a Sunday tradition, rather than the Lord of their lives. When you have relatives who purposely skip out on church because they just don’t want to go and rationalize it with “I’ll just go to confession next week,” or just show up to take communion and leave right after it, what am I to think about their faith? For many of them, they try and live lives with nothing but legalism. I know now that it is wrong for me to judge the Catholic church as a whole in this manner because when I look at what my upbringing was, I cannot assume that every Catholic is like my family. I have learned more to be focused on unity among the church as a whole, and not to be focused on every single thing that causes divisions, as long as the Lord Jesus Christ is at the heart of the church. I have become more concerned with people, and not the denomination. I completely agree with the idea of having reconciliation and fellowship between denominations.
So what does this all mean for me and my parents? During Christmas I wrote them a letter telling them about everything I struggled with growing up Catholic and where I am now spiritually. Is my goal to pull them out of the Catholic church? By all means no. I wrote to them with the desire that they actually ‘walk the walk’ and be serious about being about Jesus and making their faith go beyond any ritual or attitude of legalism. They can be as Catholic as they want, as long they are in relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and allow Him to have control in all aspects of their lives. It sorrows me to see family members dead in sin and not living in the freedom and life in Christ, all while thinking “I’m a good person because I went to church… because I went to confession … because I prayed the Rosary …” so on and so forth, trying to gain salvation though their own actions.
As for the season of Lent and observing it, growing up it was just rituals of not eating meat on one day or another and skipping a meal here and there because my parents said so. I now have a better idea of what fasting is for, and know that it can be done at any time throughout the year. No matter what one chooses to fast from, if we are not seeking or dependent on the Lord in our depravity, fasting loses its meaning. Symbols and rituals can pose the the threat of losing the meanings that they represent, or they can become the focal point in worship, I know this from my upbringing; I have seen God traded in for representations of God.
During Lent and when Lent is over, we should be seeking the Lord daily, no matter what. We need to realize that we need Jesus more and more each day and realize how deserving we are of God’s wrath and judgment as we recognize how sinful we really are and how desperately we daily need God’s grace and mercy. This sort of attitude must not be confined to a time frame in a calendar year; after all, who are we anyways by our own strength that God should save us?
I was brought up in a very different way from most people, it was very nice, but also very difficult for people to actually understand me.
Though my parents were Christians they had difficulties with the church, different reasons in different churches, but because of it i knew from a very young age that church does not automatically mean it has anything to do with the way were supposed to live, or even Christ.
And through out my life i have seen that denominations and labels are very easily given and often don’t mean a thing. I also know that going to church does not make you a Christian in any way.
I have always had a hatred towards labels and now also denominations, for it always comes with judgment. I thought it was Paul who wrote you do not belong to this one or another you belong to Jesus Christ and as long as you stand by that it will be all you need.
What i see when it comes to labels is not just judgment but also a lot of religion, and i have a problem with that, the Bible also talks about religions being bad, for religion can’t do anything for you, you are saved by grace alone! And what makes Christianity different that it is not a religion it’s a relationship!
I am happy to hear that someone from a protestant church went to a catholic one and that you were not in any way ashamed, i am totally up for breaking down every single wall that we put up ourselves in name of religion!
Most people when talking about the body of Christ as just their own church, no it is every one that believes and though the hand can not tell the foot what to do, we still need them to be there or we are not complete. I know it is hard to break out of your own little world but it is so worth it!
Thanks for your comments, Dan and Christina! Dan, I’m believing with you that your family will come to know Jesus in a deep, personal, life-altering way. It’s funny, I grew up in a church similar to the one you attend now, but I still knew people who were legalistic, who said they believed in God, but it didn’t seem to make an impact on their lives. I was taught that people who belonged to denominations other than ours (and a select few others) might be well-meaning, but they weren’t “real” Christians (or if they were, they weren’t as “strong” as they could be). So I also identify with your comment, Christina. It was jarring for me to meet other strong believers in college who came from those “unacceptable” denominations, but actually had stronger, more relevant faith in Jesus than some people I knew in my own “enlightened” denomination. After everything is said and done, what counts is faith expressing itself through love, whatever your background, whatever church you feel most called to in the present.
THE LORD JESUS SAID:
‘Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.’ [Math.7:21].
And, ‘Why do you call Me “Lord” and do not the things which I say?’ [Luke 6:46].
‘The one who says he abides in ‘Jesus’ ought himself to walk in the same manner in which He walked.’ [1John 2:6].
The ‘love’ of Christ and true Christ-likeness in a believer
In these End Times, more than ever before, it is time that ‘believers’ in Christ prove their Christ- ianity by demonstrating the love of Christ. Jesus Himself stated that ‘love’ is the ultimate deci- ding factor, of all Biblical criteria, which confirms a true Disciple of Christ Jesus. He said, ”Love one another, even as I have loved you; by this love all men will know that you are My disciples.’ [John 13:34,35]. This is a huge requirement from the Lord Himself to ALL believers.
Today, many who ‘believe’ in Jesus are publicly vocal about ‘believing’. Yet, their worldly speech, unbecoming behavior, un-Christlike attitude and disrespect towards others bring a terrible reproach upon the Lord, distorts true Christianity and stumbles others from recognizing true Christ likeness and even Christ Himself. This includes everyday ‘believers’, famous people, celebrities, sports stars, politicians and even TV pulpit ministers themselves.
For example, a ‘believer’ who demonstrates arrogance, impatience towards others or unbecoming speech or behavior is already failing in the Lord’s #1 commandment. Many TV preachers today who fail in demonstrating Christ’s ‘love’ in their character, speech and attitude towards others are in a dangerous place spiritually as Jesus forewarned.
The solution is found in the written Word of God. The Apostle Paul presented 2 powerful check lists of God’s love, itemizing exactly what God’s love ‘is’, and what it ‘is not’ in 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 and Galatians Chapter 5:16-26. For every believer who thirsts to become more like our Lord Jesus then this criteria can immediately help a believer begin examining himself and lining up with true Christ likeness. This way, a ‘believer’ can make sure he is truly demonstrating Christ’s ‘love’ in himself and towards all others, which is pleasing in the sight of God. Otherwise, that particular ‘believer’ is simply a 1st-base ‘believer’ who is saved by grace and by God’s mercy according to John 3:16, yet he will arrive in heaven likely having made a mockery of our Lord Jesus to others while here during his/her life, possibly even having been a stumbling block.