Ashes to Ashes

During January we gather up last year's palm crosses and we torch them. The result of this safely contained mini fire is the ashes for the Ash Wednesday services. You know the little black smudge on the forehead business.

So the folk had kindly returned their faded 2022 palm crosses with the aid of an accelerant... Whoomph! There I was watching the flames transform the palm crosses into ash.

There is always something cathartic about watching this fire work its magic... gazing upon last year's palm crosses being transformed into ash.

For one thing, there is that primeval fascination with flame. You can’t actually measure or hold a flame but there is something alluring about it. For gazillions of years, folk have gathered around a fire, forming friendships, being seduced by that ethereal thing that they cannot explain. Later we would learn that these flames could cook things and the last remnants of this fine and noble custom are what we call in modern lingo, ‘Ye olde Barby”.

But there is a deeper significance with the cindering of the palm crosses. It’s about putting last year behind us, acknowledging that it happened, but also letting go of its crosses, junk and regrets. Letting the passing of time work its therapy like the flame works its healing. What happened in 2022 is gone now, irretrievable. Like the ashes, you can’t gather it up and hold it any more. It’s changed and that is how it should be. Time to move on with fresh resolve and besmirch our foreheads with the ash of the past. A sign of our willingness to look forward to the Lent of 2023.

We smudge the shape of the cross on our forehead ‘Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return’. Ashes to ashes…