Not since 2018 has the Christian Holy Day of Ash Wednesday fallen on Valentine’s Day. That year, an Anglican colleague and I decided over coffee one afternoon, that we would take Ash Wednesday on the road so to speak and set up a table at the Victoria Public Library courtyard offering “Ashes to Go”.
“We can also hand out Valentines that say YOU ARE LOVED” to each person we meet, because after all, isn’t that the point?” I loved the bold co-conspiracy. We couldn’t be credited with the idea; both having heard of other Christian clergy across the country taking up the challenge to encounter God in the neighbourhood, outside the safety of the church walls.
We set up a table covered with a deep purple cloth, and on it we placed a basket of Valentines, some palm fronds folded into crosses, a small bottle of baptismal oil, and a bowl of palm ashes – all liturgical items of our Christian faith practise connecting life and death we thought useful object lessons. Dressed in our long white albs, adorned with purple stoles, we set up a sign inviting people to ask questions and to receive the imposition of ashes on their forehead. We smiled and tried not to look like the spectacle we worried we were.
A father and his young children approached us, library books under their arms. “What is the significance of Ash Wednesday?” They were three of many we encountered who were delightfully curious. We explained that Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of the season of Lent - a time in the church year, where we’re solemnly reminded of our mortality. Faithful Christians humbly coming forward mid-week to have ashes of burnt palm fronds and baptismal oil in goopy concoction, imposed upon our foreheads by the pastor or priest, in a sign of the cross. Hearing the words: “you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Our explanation provoked more questions. “A bit dark for Valentine’s Day”, he grinned. “On the contrary”, I said grinning back. “Perhaps, it’s a reminder of God’s relentless love for us”. I recalled another explanation by Lutheran Pastor and ELCA Public Theologian Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber, who more eloquently explained in her book Accidental Saints: Finding God in All The Wrong People (2015):
“If our lives were a long piece of fabric with our baptism on one end and our funeral on another, and we don’t know the distance between the two, then Ash Wednesday is a time when that fabric is pinched in the middle and the ends are held up so that our baptism in the past and our funeral in the future meet. The water and words from our baptism plus the earth and words from our funerals have come from the past and future to meet us in the present. And in that meeting we are reminded of the promises of God: That we are God’s, that there is no sin, no darkness, and yes, no grave that God will not come to find us in and love us back to life. These promises outlast our earthly bodies and the limits of time.”
Ash Wednesday might just be a Valentine from God who loves us beyond anything. As Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday co-conspire once again this year, if you spot a pastor out in the wild offering Ashes to Go, go ahead and be curious. I look forward to encountering God, this time outside the Broadway/City Hall Skytrain station in Vancouver. Pray for me and remember, you are loved.
The Rev. Aneeta Devi Saroop (she/her) is the pastor at Spirit of Life Lutheran Church in Vancouver, BC. She is an Ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
You can read more articles on our interfaith blog, Spiritually Speaking, at https://www.timescolonist.com/blogs/spiritually-speaking
* This article was published in the print edition of the Times Colonist on Saturday, February 10th 2024
