On Ash Wednesday, we are reminded that “we ourselves will not overcome the temptations of Satan, our sinful flesh and death, but Christ our champion will.”
Because it falls during our spring recess, we will not be holding an Ash Wednesday service on campus this year, as is our usual tradition. Instead, we share these words from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, to help and encourage our Concordia family to honor this holy day on their own or, we hope, with members of a local congregation.
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, and, if Sundays are omitted, is 40 days before Easter. The day begins the church’s annual season of penitence, traditionally marked by repentance, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In the LCMS, congregations often offer additional services in the week where the Word is preached and the Sacrament offered.
As the name suggests, many congregations practice the ceremony of the imposition of ashes on this day. Ashes are a symbol of mortality and repentance, since “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). And when the pastor places ashes on an individual, often in the shape of a cross, he speaks a sobering reminder: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).
We ourselves will not overcome the temptations of Satan, our sinful flesh and death, but Christ our champion will. Throughout the season of Lent, we consider how Jesus endures and overcomes the devil with His works and ways, suffers willingly for us, and redeems us by His blood and Passion. Faith trusts in Him and believes, even from the ash heap, that “a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17).
For more details about the meaning and significance of Ash Wednesday, please read the complete LCMS post HERE.
Want in?
Concordia University Wisconsin is a Lutheran higher education community committed to helping students develop in mind, body, and spirit for service to Christ in the Church and the world. For more information about Christian life at Concordia University Wisconsin, please click the link below.