The Dustiness of Lent

Scripture — Genesis 3:19

By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.

Devotion

“Dust you are and to dust you will return.” To me, that’s one of the most familiar lines in all of Scripture. I’ve repeated this line to men, women, and children at least 2,000 times throughout my life.

Now, if you’re not familiar with Christian practices related to Ash Wednesday, what I just said probably sounds odd to you. Why in the world would anyone say such a thing to people, not to mention thousands of times? But if you have participated in an Ash Wednesday worship service, you no doubt realize that when I said, “Dust you are and to dust you will return” it was in the context of imposing ashes on the foreheads of worshipers. That’s the sort of thing pastors and other church leaders do on Ash Wednesday, at least in many Christian traditions.

Growing up in the church, I never heard my pastor say to me, “Dust you are and to dust you will return” or anything remotely like that. You see, I did not grow up in a church that recognized Ash Wednesday. But, thirty-two years ago, I found myself as the senior pastor of a Presbyterian church that deeply valued its commemoration of Ash Wednesday. Irvine Presbyterian Church sponsored an Ash Wednesday service, complete with the imposition of ashes (placing ashes on people’s foreheads). And I was supposed to lead that service! So I quickly had to learn something about this special day. Not only did I discover many things about the meaning of Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Christian season of Lent, but also I learned how to impose ashes in the form of a small cross and to say as I did, “Dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Ash-imposers use various versions of this statement, as you might imagine.)

Ash Wednesday is a day many Christians recognize as a holiday, a “holy day.” Other believers, however, do not recognize Ash Wednesday or Lent because Scripture does not require acknowledgment of these days. Yet, no matter your personal practice, the themes of Ash Wednesday and Lent are deeply shaped by biblical revelation. In particular, Ash Wednesday is a day to remember our humanness and mortality. It is a day to begin the season of Lent, a time for reflection, penitence, and preparation for Easter. (If you’d like to learn more about Ash Wednesday, you might find helpful a short piece I’ve written on the subject: What is Ash Wednesday? How Do We Observe It? Why Should We?)

There is bad news in Ash Wednesday services. As you may recall, the line “Dust you are and to dust you will return” was spoken by God to Adam after he had sinned. Whereas Adam once enjoyed the reality of deathless life in God’s perfect creation, after he sinned his body would die. In time, he would return to the dust from which he was made. Therefore, “To dust you will return” was bad news for Adam. And it is bad news for us as well. Like Adam, we have come from dust and to dust we will return. Throughout our lives, our dusty bodies remind us of our mortality: when they get sick, when they work imperfectly, when they age, or when they stop working altogether. Often, our bodies are the instruments of sin rather than instruments of God-honoring work and worship.

Of course, many good things come from our bodies, including new human life, fulfilling work, loving embraces, and acts of charity. The inherent goodness of our bodies has not been obliterated by sin, though it has been tarnished and twisted. Ash Wednesday reminds us of this bad news. It invites us into a time of extended contemplation and contrition as we consider during Lent just how much we need God to save us from our sin.

But Ash Wednesday also stirs up hope. The ashes that are imposed on our heads form the shape of a cross. Sometimes these crosses are obvious; sometimes more subtle. But the very symbol that emphasizes our mortality and sin also alludes to that which will set us free. It reminds us that God has entered into our human condition in order to break the power of sin and welcome us into the fullness of life through the cross.

Yet Ash Wednesday is not Good Friday. Nor is it Easter Sunday. It is not a day to focus on the cross and its meaning so much as a time to begin to realize just how much we need the cross. Thus, Ash Wednesday points ahead, to the season of Lent, to Holy Week that comes at the end of Lent, and most of all to the cross of Christ. Jesus took upon himself our “dustiness,” our mortality, yes, even our sin, so that we might experience the fullness of life, abundant life, eternal life through God’s grace. Ash Wednesday reminds us of just how much we need that life. It invites us into a season of contemplation and preparation.

Banner image by Annika Gordon on Unsplash.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project’s online commentary. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: People Fall into Sin in Work (Genesis 3:1-24).

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