Our God kicks ash
The first major poem T.S. Eliot wrote after his conversion to Anglicanism is Ash Wednesday. Published in 1930, this poem speaks to a journey we can all begin this Ash Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023.
Seekers, questioners, newcomers, recently established and longstanding Christians align when we acknowledge and participate in this day which literally marks us as sinners in need of turning to God.
Eliot certainly helps us turn to God because Ash Wednesday taps into some of the major themes of Eliot’s life which are also major themes in our lives. These include hope and despair.
In the first stanza of Ash Wednesday, the speaker (Eliot) states his hopelessness. This weight is familiar today. The voice in the poem has no hope that his life is going to change. He doubts he will find joy again.
We realize his despair. He has lost his faith. After a few lines in the poem, he states he no longer “strive(s) to strive towards such (faith-oriented) things” as hope.
The poet feels as though his life and fate is bleak and sorrow filled. He writes there is no reason to fly because he’s an “agèd eagle” who will surely not reach his destination before his death. The weary soul is so downtrodden he cannot mourn, even though these lines feel very much like he is mourning.
Eliot’s poem moves from darkness to delight, but this isn’t just Eliot’s poem. It is our poem, too. For many of us, his words are our words. His experiences are our experiences. We know hopelessness and deep hurts that didn’t heal—at first.
It’s true. Eliot’s lines may be ours. Hopelessness. Despair. Sorrow. Pointlessness.
And then, from this honest place, Christ changes everything.
Realizing Christ can change everything in our lives can be the touchstone of Ash Wednesday this year because this day orients us to who we really are—hot mess sinners in need of salvation that cannot come from ourselves.
Mark Hart, author of One Sunday At A Time, speaks indirectly to Ash Wednesday yet directly to sin. “I’m a sinner,” he says. “I don’t always love God as strongly as I could or as directly as I should. Ash Wednesday reminds me that it is only through God that I have life; He gave it to me. God forgives. He loves. And He gives this sinner a second chance. Put simply: my God kicks ash.”
Eliot would agree. God does kick ash. God takes our sins away and this day—Ash Wednesday—is the day we get to get to the core of this and celebrate.
In the early Church, Christians committing serious sins were instructed to do public penance. This included wearing sackcloth and ashes, a custom introduced by Pope Gregory I (who served from September 3, 590 to March 12, 604). This was enacted as a universal practice in Western Christendom by the Synod of Benevento (AD 1091). Receiving ashes on the first day of Lent has been a universal Christian practice since the 11th century.
The 11th century. Wow, that is old. Yet it is also new each year. Ash Wednesday is a gift to participate in over a mournful or sorrowful day of remorse because God helps us locate who we are and sends what we so desperately need, which is our Savior Jesus.
Yes, we can skip over this day. Midweek. Kids. Job. Tired after a long day. Not in the schedule. Got that coffee downtown this morning. One outing a day is enough.
But don’t do that. Let’s not cheat ourselves. Let’s not cheat others either. Instead, let’s get this day. Let’s get this meaning. Let’s get ashes on our foreheads so that the world will know who we are, sinners who are pumped up over (and so totally in love with) the One who saves.
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