Ash Wednesday
Lent Season, Year A
Scriptures: Psalm 51:1-17; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Key Verse: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)
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Hello, This is Jade.
Welcome to Yi.kigai
A space for all to explore the intersection between faith and daily life
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Have you ever written a secret letter with invisible ink? There are many ways to make invisible ink, either with lemon juice, baking soda and water, or some other chemical substances. The secret message can be made visible by some means like heat or light. Nowadays, we can even purchase invisible permanent inks or markers that can be used not just on paper but also on plastic, glass, and metal. Such a product produces a coating that is resistant to wear and adheres to just about any surface. Invisible ink is used to convey secret codes or messages that are known by only the writers and the designated readers for the sake of protection and safety.
This makes me think of the invisible mark of the cross that we receive in our baptism. To most Christians, an invisible mark of the cross symbolizes God’s promises and is a permanent protection seal. There are many ways Christians remember this invisible mark of the cross. Some do it habitually every day at home. They start their days and end them by marking the cross with water on their foreheads. Some do it weekly when they are at church. They either end their week or start it by using the water in the baptismal font to mark the cross on their foreheads. Occasionally, Christians get to use the anointing oil to mark the cross on their foreheads in a healing worship or prayer gatherings. And how about the prayers that Christians say throughout the day when they have no water or oil? They simply make a sign of the cross to remember to whom and with whom their prayers are said.
On Ash Wednesday, we don’t use water or oil but ashes to mark the sign of the cross on our foreheads to begin the season of Lent. I didn’t know about Ash Wednesday in my early faith journey until I joined a Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas. I felt awkward leaving the church with a black cross on my forehead at first. After learning what it meant, I wasn’t even sure if it was okay to remove it right away when I got home. Then, I noticed that some people kept the cross on their foreheads all day long on Ash Wednesday. One year, I looked at myself in the mirror and thought about having a cross tattoo on my skin somewhere permanently so that I could always remember that I was dust and to dust I should return.
What does making the sign of the cross mean to you? And what do you do to remember the invisible sign of the cross? The cross marked with ashes can symbolize the beginning of our lives and the end of them on earth; the cross marked with water can symbolize our identity, that is to whom we belong eternally through our baptism; the cross marked with the anointing oil can symbolize the healings that God provides on our way back to God; the cross marked with the sign during each prayer can symbolize our trust and our relationship with God.
To anyone who hasn’t built relationship and trust with God, the cross is invisible and remains as a secret code or message, or just as St. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:18 that the message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction but is the power of God to all believers. Yes, we are marked with the sign of the cross forever. And the invisible cross is always visible to God.
On Ash Wednesday, wearing the sign of the cross marked with ashes on our foreheads is a faith practice. Jesus offered us some important thoughts on how we shall practice our faith in Matthew 6. He said that faith practices are not meant to be shown off in verse 2, and that our faith practice is a way of life in verse 3, and that our faith practices are between us with God in verse 15, and that we do them to honor God not to self-worship in verse 16, and that God does see our hearts while we practice our faith in verse 18, and that we can’t accumulate rewards that we received from people but only rewards from God that can be accumulated in heaven in verse 21.
The Ash Wednesday Cross helps me better understand the words of Matin Luther. He said, “love God and sin boldly.” Indeed, we admit to the world that we are sinners and imperfect by wearing the cross. At the same time, we proclaim the Gospel that God loves us and is with us. Thanks be to God.
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May your coming week be blessed by God’s grace
As together we explore the intersection between faith and daily life
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