From Confetti to Ashes (What’s wrong with this picture?)

     This past Wednesday is the day certain denominations call “Ash Wednesday.” It marks the end of Mardi Gras (aka. Carnival) and the beginning of the so-called “Lenten” season. It’s when the wild celebrations, dances, parties, costumes and loud parades (like those in New Orleans) suddenly give way to a season of sacrifice and self-denial. They go from confetti to ashes – on cue! In fact, the day before Ash Wednesday is called “Fat Tuesday” (Shrove Tuesday), the last fling, where you eat and drink and do all the stuff you’re about to give up for Lent! It sounds like the Corinthian philosophy of “Let us eat and drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:32). Except in this case it would be more like  “… for tomorrow we DIET!”

     On Ash Wednesday, adherents attend mass and have an ash/oil compound rubbed on their foreheads, usually in the shape of a cross. They are to contemplate their sins and make vows to give up self-indulgent ways. This usually includes the promise of giving up some habit or practice they enjoy until the 40-day period of “testing” is over. This takes them to Easter Sunday (46 actual days from Ash Wednesday, but 40 days, not counting Sundays.) Afterwards, they go back to “normal.”

     I brought all this up not to educate you on extra biblical ecclesiastical rites, but to float a couple of questions: Does God want “seasonal” devotion from us? Does He want us to bounce from the extreme of self-indulgence to that of self-deprivation? Does He want us to sin on cue, then repent on cue?

     The answers are found in Jesus’ words in Mark 8:34-35. “And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross (daily*) and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.’”  Jesus teaches us that devotion to Him is a conscious decision and commitment to following Him. Self-denial is not meant to be seasonal, but a way of life. It is not something to be regulated by a creed, limited by a calendar or displayed by a set of rituals. It is the setting aside of self in order to let Christ live in us and serve through us.

     But while we’re on the subject, let’s make sure WE don’t make the same “confetti to ashes” mistake. Let’s not spend our week all self-absorbed and self-indulged, then come together on Sunday for a day of devotion and God-focus before resuming our self-indulgent ways on Monday! No, let’s rise above the fickle ways of fallen man and pledge to serve the Lord selflessly, faithfully, daily!

*The word “daily” is from Luke’s version of Jesus’ statement (Luke 9:23).

Rich Howell