Lynne Baab

Praying about the flow of time: Ash Wednesday

Lynne Baab • Tuesday March 4 2025

As a child, I enjoyed the tactile nature of the Ash Wednesday service: walking up the aisle to the front of the church, hearing the words “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” feeling the minister’s hand marking a cross with ashes on my forehead, and then seeing the ash mark on my forehead the next time I looked in a mirror. In my elementary school years, my family often went to an Ash Wednesday service in the early morning. I proudly wore the ashes on my forehead to school that day. Looking back, I am truly amazed I did that. It seems like a sign of the simplicity and clarity of my childhood faith, which I lost in my teens.

The theme of Ash Wednesday goes back to the creation of Adam out of the dust of the earth. “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). Here’s a prayer for Ash Wednesday from The Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it is only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

The ashes, then, are a sign of two things, our mortality and our penitence. One of the graveside prayers in The Book of Common Prayer picks up that theme of mortality. I have loved this prayer since I first read it in a Madeleine L’Engle novel, A Ring of Endless Light. The main character, Vicky Austin, notices thisprayer at the funeral of her beloved grandfather.

You only are immortal, the creator and maker of mankind; and we are mortal, formed of the earth, and to earth shall we return. For so did you ordain when you created me, saying, "You are dust, and to dust you shall return." All of us go down to the dust; yet even at the grave we make our song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

If you have ever participated in a graveside service, I hope you felt that mysterious and amazing sense of standing in a doorway between this world and the next. Even in the sadness of losing someone we love, that fleeting awareness of the next world arouses our praise: Even at the grave we make our song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

In addition to the theme of mortality, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a penitential season. So a second theme of the day is penitence, defined as “the action of feeling or showing sorrow and regret for having done wrong; repentance.” To nurture penitence on Ash Wednesday, you may want to read Psalm 32 or Psalm 51.

I usually provide a brief prayer at the end of these blog posts. Today I’m going to post a litany from the Ash Wednesday service from The Book of Common Prayer. I love the vivid language used in the prayer to describe the many areas where we might turn away from God. In Christ, God has forgiven us. We confess these areas of sin because we are already forgiven.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us,
We confess to you, Lord.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done: for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.

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Related posts:

• Confess and admit
• Confessing sin without wallowing
• Advent can be confusing (Advent is the other penitential season in the Christian year)

Next week: An idea for Lent. Illustration by Dave Baab.

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Lynne M. Baab, Ph.D., is an author and adjunct professor. She has written numerous books, Bible study guides, and articles for magazines and journals. Lynne is passionate about prayer and other ways to draw near to God, and her writing conveys encouragement for readers to be their authentic selves before God. She encourages experimentation and lightness in Christian spiritual practices. Read more »

Lynne is pleased to announce the release of her two 2024 books, both of them illustrated with her talented husband Dave's watercolors. She is thrilled at how good the watercolors look in the printed books, and in the kindle versions, if read on a phone, the watercolors glow. Friendship, Listening and Empathy: A Prayer Guide guides the reader into new ways to pray about the topics in the title. Draw Near: A Lenten Devotional guides the reader to a psalm for each day of Lent and offers insightful reflection/discussion questions that can be used alone or in groups. 

Another recent book is Two Hands: Grief and Gratitude in the Christian  Life, available in paperback, audiobook, and for kindle. Lynne's 2018 book is Nurturing Hope: Christian Pastoral Care for the Twenty-First Century, and her most popular book is Sabbath-Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest (now available as an audiobook as well as paperback and kindle). You can see her many other book titles here, along with her Bible study guides.

You can listen to Lynne talk about these topics: empathy, bringing spiritual practices to life. Sabbath keeping for recent grads., and Sabbath keeping for families and children.

Lynne was interviewed for the podcast "As the Crow Flies". The first episode focuses on why listening matters and the second one on listening skills. 

Here are two talks Lynne gave on listening (recorded in audio form on YouTube): Listening for Mission and Ministry and Why Listening Matters for Mission and Ministry.

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"Dear Dr. Baab, You changed my life. It is only through God’s gift of the sabbath that I feel in my heart and soul that God loves me apart from anything I do."
— a reader of Sabbath Keeping