Hope In A Weary Season

Ash Wednesday February 17, 2021

Created by Pastor Drew Tucker

Matthew 6:16–18 (NIV)

16 When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,

18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Devotion

Here we are on Ash Wednesday, and I imagine many pastors and priests are still trying to figure out how to apply ash to your foreheads from more than six feet away. If they’ve got that wingspan, I might suggest they missed a vocation for basketball or volleyball.

In the pre-COVID-19 world, I take great pride in offering ashes in worship and Ashes-to-Go in the community, both in a way of reminding us all of both our mortality, of our connection to the earth, and of our grounding in God. In our community today, we will also offer ashes for those who still desire that kind of physical reminder, following the same COVID-19 protocols we’ve used to offer Eucharist during in-person worship (following the Ohio Department of Health guidelines for food service, for those who are curious).

But I know — and honor — that many are not yet comfortable with that proximity. And they too deserve an Ash Wednesday experience.

Enter homemade soaps and Matthew 6.

During the pandemic, one of the things I’ve begun to do is make homemade soap and beard balm. My wife, Michelle, thinks I’m ridiculous. She might be right. But I’ve enjoyed the trial and error, finding ways to make things with tangible and useful results, much in the same way I enjoy landscaping. In preparation for Lent, I once again read Matthew 6, and heard Jesus say, “When you fast…wash your face so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting.” Now, I’m not one who thinks our ritual of ashes is ostentatious. In fact, I find that gritty reminder a holy, helpful acknowledgment of the difficulty that is ahead, facing both mortality and immortality in the Lenten and Easter seasons.

But Jesus reminds me that there’s a way to do this that embraces cleanliness, where the practice of washing becomes itself the practice of repentance. So, I made pine tar soap. A deep grey, to remind us of the ashes, and yet scented with the vibrance of pine, to awaken our senses, and sudsy to clean us as an homage to the baptismal washing that prepares us for this Lenten journey.

A pandemic Lent calls for new practices that tell an ancient truth. For those on campus that don’t want ashes on their foreheads — or don’t want to be so close to risk the passing of a deadly virus — we still have a mode to embody the beginning of our Lenten journeys. This year, along with Luther, I’ll wash my face with pine tar soap, remember my baptism, and be thankful for all the work that Christ does in carrying us through death and into resurrection.

That is just one small way we, as a community, are trying to find hope in a weary season: refreshing our habits to make a new impact on our journey of faith with Christ. I hope you’ll join us throughout this season as different authors from across our community — students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of Capital University — offer their perspectives on Hope in a Weary Season.

Prayer

Good and gracious God, help us to find hope in this weary season. Amen.