February 15, 2024

 By the time you read this, you will have experienced perhaps an unusual Ash Wednesday. In a confluence that last occurred in 2018, Ash Wednesday this year fell on Valentine’s Day. Before then, the last time both days were the same was 1945. Before it occurred in 1923 and 1934, and apparently Ash Wednesday 2029 will be the final time this will occur in this century. So, suffice this to say, yesterday does not happen often.

Yet nonetheless it did this year, and I for one, was fascinated by the liturgical and perhaps theological conundrum posed by the day. Ash Wednesday is a traditionally somber and solemn day beginning the season of Lent, marked by disciplines of fasting, abstinence, self-sacrifice, and repentance. Valentine’s Day is an often over commercialized day marked with celebrations of love with indulgences, particularly food and sweets. What is a faithful person to do when both fall on the same day? Over the past couple of weeks, I engaged in both an impromptu survey of some our pastors in our Conference at a gathering last month, spoke with other pastors by phone, and scanned several websites from our churches to see their liturgical offerings for yesterday. As you can imagine with our congregations, there was a variety of responses. One church held a traditional pancake supper on Mardi Gras, followed by ushering in Lent later than evening with the imposition of ashes. One church observed Ash Wednesday in the morning and afternoon without an evening service. One pastor planned not only to offer ashes, but also heart shaped rocks. Another imposed glitter in lieu of ashes. A number of our congregations held Ash Wednesday services both at noon and in the evening. So, suffice it to say, that by the time you read this, you may have observed Ash Wednesday in some way although this year it fell on Valentine’s Day.

Nonetheless, it seems to me that our faith can contain both Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day simultaneously, and, with reflection, far more easily than upon first glance. And as you spiritually journey with Jesus this Lenten season, I pray that you will remember this from any significance of yesterday:

You are Beloved.

You are wholly Beloved.

You are unequivocally Beloved.

You are Beloved, and there is nothing you can do or say that changes that.

You are Beloved, and there is nothing anyone or anything else can do or say that changes that.

You are Beloved when it seems that no one loves you.

You are Beloved when it seems hard for you to love yourself.

You are Beloved every Ash Wednesday.

You are Beloved every Valentine’s Day.

You are Beloved every day.

In the account of the Transfiguration that you may have heard read and proclaimed in a sermon last Sunday, Peter proposed building dwellings for the transfigured Jesus along with Moses and Elijah. Just then, Mark writes, a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice saying, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him! (Mark 9:7)". As a child of God, you are no less Beloved. When Jesus descended from that mountain and continued his journey eventually to Jerusalem and to Calvary, He assured that.

Yes, Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are mortal. We have a limited number of days on earth. But combined with Valentine’s Day, Ash Wednesday can remind us that we are Beloved every day on earth and that Love will go with us from earth to heaven. May we begin our spiritual journeys this Lenten journey as the Beloved, in thanksgiving for and reverence to, the One Who Loves Us every step of the way.

Lenten Blessings,