Wednesday won’t be a typical day for many of us in Kansas City. Valentine’s Day, Super Bowl parade and for Christians, Ash Wednesday — and probably a dozen other things I’m not aware of. The primary color(s) of the day for many will be red and whatever color ash is.
To quote our K.C.-loving Taylor Swift, there is “a lot going on at the moment.” Hearts, chocolate, romance and football, sprinkled in with ashes and some good ole self-examination and confession. My brain might break holding all this together.
I could, of course, choose to follow the advice of some people in my life, who could not care less about football or Valentine’s Day or even Lent, and just stop trying to hold any of this together. Alas, I’m a glutton for punishment and a lifelong wannabe football player.
So maybe I’ll just take the custom heart candies that I ordered this year, head down to the Super Bowl parade and offer Ashes-2-Go. Maybe even sprinkle in some Taylor Swift music or, better yet, a sighting of her.
But this reflection is not about Taylor.
This Ash Wednesday, more than any other, I’m aware of and often overwhelmed by the different voices and situations that cross our newsfeeds, work desks, streets and neighborhoods, family text threads, listening devices and our very hearts and bodies. We are all pulled and sometimes yanked this way or that.
It can feel exhilarating and/or numbing depending on the moment. It’s no wonder many of us choose various coping strategies — some more harmful than others.
In the mix of our “a lot going on” moments of everyday, the last thing many of us want to think about — or, perhaps what many of us are actively running away from — is the truth that we won’t live in these human bodies forever.
Let’s stick with hearts, chocolate, football and parades while we can! And Taylor.
Then again, last Sunday at Rainbow Mennonite Church I met with a group of fourth through sixth graders and, together, we burned the dried palm branches from last year’s Palm Sunday service. We chose to do this in our church Remembrance Garden. It was a good occasion to read aloud the names of our beloved ones who have died and whose cremains are now one with the garden.
They asked good questions and joined in this mysterious, sensory lesson. Hopefully it sparked new thinking, new wondering.
I told these young ones that when I was a hospital chaplain in Chicago, I would go to various units on Ash Wednesday with trepidation, believing that nobody in their right mind would want to be reminded of their mortality while receiving hospital care. In fact, this wasn’t always the case.
People often smiled as I made the sign of the cross on their hand or forehead. “It makes me feel lighter than air,” one person said.
Up until that point, Ash Wednesday had always felt a little sad or even morbid. I’m slowly learning there is something much deeper and more beautiful often happening in rituals initially strange to us, no matter your religion or belief system.
So once again this year, and on Valentine’s Day no less, I will join other Christians in this mysterious ritual with hopes that I/we will learn to navigate living and dying with as much grace as possible, all while seeking the heart of Jesus. Perhaps this year I’ll offer ashen hearts alongside the sign of the cross.
The only thing left to do is to mix our new batch of ash with a bit of olive oil, and then we will be ready for our Rainbow Ash Wednesday.
Though, are we ever truly ready to be reminded that “we are dust, and to dust we shall return”?
It’s a lot. And yet, what if these are among the most important words of all to remember and live by?
P.S.: The mug pictured above was a gift from my sister after our family attended the film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour over Thanksgiving.
My dad, a retired Mennonite pastor, was looking at his phone for most of the show. I would only learn later that he was actually looking at, and even appreciating, some of her lyrics. And, of course, checking on sports updates.
So dad, the distinguished Mennonite theologian you are, what do you think of these lines from Taylor? A good song to add to my Ash Wednesday playlist?
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