We avoid cleaning fireplaces for fear of the filth from them, yet we participate in this practice that is growing in popularity. Under any other circumstances, most would run from ashes. Instead, they poured or sprinkled ashes over your head. Pastors did not dip their thumbs into the ashes to draw the shape of a cross on your forehead. In the early days of the church, it was even more dramatic.
People go to church mid-week to have a cleric place dirt on their foreheads. This practice we use to mark the first day of Lent may seem odd. By the time you see the third, you realize it is Ash Wednesday and these passersby must have received the imposition of ashes. Then you see another who looks as though he needs to glance in the mirror. It looks as if she missed a spot when washing. One Wednesday a year, sometime in February or March, you notice someone at work, school, or elsewhere with a smudge on her forehead. Many receive a cross of ashes on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday, an ancient symbol of our humanity.Ī UMC.org Feature by Joe Iovino, United Methodist Communications A file photo by Kathleen Barry, United Methodist Communications
