Ash Wednesday and Lent Explained

Hello, my name is Rick Lee James, and I just wanted to take a moment really quick to tell you about the season of Lent that we're entering into today, specifically Ash Wednesday. Tonight at Xenia Church of the Nazarene in Xenia, Ohio, I'll be leading music for an Ash Wednesday service. And Ash Wednesday is sort of the kickoff to Lent. It's the beginning of a time of repentance, a season of 40 days, which really it's actually 46 days. And the reason for those extra 6 days is we don't count Sundays as part of the season of Lent because every Sunday is sort of a little resurrection. It's a little celebration party to come together and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Little Easters, let's put it that way. So there's 40 days not counting the Sundays, so it ends up being throughout the season 46 days in the season of Lent. We kick off Lent with Ash Wednesday because of the biblical precedent of ashes representing repentance. The 40 days of Lent represent various things throughout Scripture, things like Jesus being in the desert fasting for 40 days, Israel being in the desert. The number 40 comes up again and again. Jonah, Nineveh, 40, 40, 40, 40. You can keep finding it in scripture. So symbolically, we take the season of Lent as a 40-day time to repent, a 40-day time to journey with Jesus towards the cross. So 40 days, not counting the Sundays, those are resurrection days. So often to be in a mode of repentance, acknowledging that We are simply ashes that, like the verse in Genesis reminds us, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." You know, "From dust we were made, to dust we will return" is where we get that phrase from. Ash Wednesday kicks off this season of repentance. It reminds us that we are made from the dust, that we are a combination of God's holy breath and God's good earth brought together to create a human being. And all these things that he gives to us are gifts, things like food. So we'll fast like Jesus in the desert. Some of us are going to be giving up things to fast during this time. There's a precedent in the Old Testament to put on sackcloth and ashes. And so for many of us, we don't know exactly how Ash Wednesday came to be connected with Lent, but we know for quite a while now the church has acknowledged Ash Wednesday as a good kickoff time. So many of us tonight will be celebrating by receiving the ashes, and thus our repentance, our season of Lent begins. And, uh, it's a 6-week season of repentance. It's a 6-week journey to the cross with Jesus, and then it leads us into the 7-week celebration of Easter, because 7 is the biblical number that represents God. And it makes our celebration all the more meaningful because the fast is over. We can celebrate, we walk with Jesus, we live in the fullness of life. So I encourage you in this season of Lent, uh, hopefully you can begin fasting with us, begin praying, begin this time of repentance for 40 days, and allow the Sundays to be all the more meaningful because they're little days of Easter, they're little Easter celebrations that break out throughout the 40 days of the season of Lent. So God bless you. I hope you'll join us on this journey of Lent and that you will find this to be a meaningful time of growth, a meaningful time of repentance, and a meaningful time of drawing near to God. And whatever you fast, let it be used as something that will draw you nearer to God. Maybe you're going to be giving up lunch or something. Let that lunchtime be a time where you can pray. Maybe it's a a snack that you're giving up, and you can take that money that you spent on that snack, save it up throughout the season of Lent, and give it to some sort of charity. Give it to somebody who needs it. Wait and see how much that amasses, how much money you would spend on whatever it is you're fasting throughout the season, and see how much good you can do with that to give to others and show the generosity of Christ. So anyway, so begins the season of Lent. I hope you'll join us. God bless you.