Jean Wise

“Ash Wednesday is the day that marks the beginning of Lent, a 40-day journey towards Easter. For hundreds, even thousands of years, Christians have marked these 40 days by placing an ash cross on their forehead. But as the use of ashes fades further and further into cultural history, if we’re not careful, we can find ourselves going through the motions without fully understanding the meaning. When you read through the symbolism behind the use of ashes in the ancient world and in Scripture, there’s a depth and meaning that will not only help you more-fully enjoy Ash Wednesday, but also help you fully prepare to experience the death and resurrection of our Savior. [Walk to first table.] TABLE 1 - LOSS First, ash is a symbol of loss. [Turn around a large sign that reads LOSS.] When you lose a loved one, you lay them in the ground and say goodbye. You know that their spirit has departed, and the body that remains will turn to dust. [Pick up dirt.] In the book of Genesis, after God makes the first man Adam from the dust of the ground he tells him in Genesis 3:19 the words we sometimes hear at funerals, “you will return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” [Drop the dirt.] What grief does ash symbolize for you? [Step to the next table.] TABLE 2 - MORTALITY Which of course means ash is a symbol of your own mortality, our second symbol. [Turn around a large sign that reads MORTALITY.] Just as you remember your loved ones returning to dust, ash reminds you that you yourself will return to dust. Like dirt beneath your feet, your mortality is ever-present. [Pick up a dried flower, crush the head of the flower in your hand.] Isaiah 40:6-8 says, “All people are like grass… The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” How can ash remind you of your own mortality that you’ve forgotten? [Step to the next table.]”
― Chris Paavola, The Seven Symbols of Ash: An Interactive Ash Wednesday Experience